Virginia Beach Emergency Communications & Citizen Services Earns Reaccreditation
Friday, December 02, 2011 · 11:30 am
On Nov. 19, the Virginia Beach Emergency Communications and Citizen Services (ECCS) Department received Communications Reaccreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA).
Director Athena M. Plummer and Accreditation Managers Michele Evins and Sue Frazier received the honors in Colorado Springs, Colo. Virginia Beach Emergency Communications and Citizen Services is one of only 66 agencies nationwide that have been awarded Communications Accreditation through CALEA. Currently, there are seven communications accredited agencies in Virginia, and ECCS is the largest in the area. ECCS met 218 standards from seven categories to earn accreditation.
Throughout the accreditation process, ECCS partnered with the Fire, Police, Emergency Medical Services and Communications and Information Technology Departments to improve processes, procedures and systems to continuously improve service delivery and reduce emergency response times. One result saved more than one minute of call processing time, allowing fire apparatus to respond to emergencies quicker.
The accreditation process forces organizations to continuously seek self improvement while thoroughly self-evaluating their processes, practices and protocols that are judged against industry best practices and national standards.
The CALEA Public Safety Communications Accreditation Program provides a communications center with a process to systemically review and internally assess its operations and procedures. It is the primary method for a communications agency to voluntarily demonstrate its commitment to excellence. The standards reflect the current thinking and experience of public safety communications executives and accreditation experts. A formal on-site review is held during which direct feedback and recommendations are received from an outside team of independent assessors.
The Virginia Beach Emergency Communications and Citizen Services Department is committed to delivering the best and most efficient public safety emergency communications services possible to the citizens and visitors of Virginia Beach. This is the third time that ECCS has been accredited. This accreditation period will last until 2014.
For more information concerning CALEA, visit www.CALEA.org.
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