Round Lake considers dropping police accreditation program

Former Round Lake Mayor Bill Gentes and his political slate sent a giddy campaign mailer about the village’s police department shortly before the April 2009 election.

“The police are certified! … This is what you want from your mayor and police!” stated what was headlined as the Mayor Gentes Police Report.

But the so-called certification from a private company has continuing costs attached.

At a Round Lake village board committee meeting Monday night, Police Chief Michael Gillette recommended saving money by not paying a roughly $4,000 invoice and dropping out of a nationwide law enforcement accreditation program.

“We will not change the way we do business,” Gillette told the village board.

Virginia-based Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies is now meeting some resistance from police departments that have contracted with the company. Police agencies must reapply for accreditation every three years, but some are questioning the expense involved.

Known as CALEA, the organization works with police departments on meeting nearly 400 internationally accepted standards for operations, gives awards and hosts conventions. CALEA claims its services help police departments strengthen accountability as part of a blueprint promoting efficient use of resources.

Cliffton R. Metaxa pursued the CALEA relationship after he was hired as Round Lake’s top cop in 2005. About a month before he resigned, Metaxa joined other Round Lake officials to receive the village’s police accreditation in March 2009 when they traveled to the company’s convention in Raleigh, N.C.

Gillette said Round Lake police can continue to use the various programs CALEA has provided without paying the annual costs. Trustee Donald Newby supported that idea.

“I just don’t see the need to be accredited, to have a sticker on your car, for $4,500 a year,” Newby said. “So we’re still going to follow those rules and those standards.”

Round Lake village board members may vote June 20 on whether to save money by dropping CALEA.

In the St. Louis suburb of Ballwin, Police Chief Steve Schicker earlier this year cited escalating costs in recommending the city dump CALEA. He said in a memo to the city administrator it would have been nearly $10,000 to remain this year, plus perpetual expenses he found while researching the company.

“As I conducted my research,” Schicker wrote, “I found an agency slightly smaller than (31,000-population) Ballwin has spent over $50,000 in the past six years in CALEA accreditation fees, on-site assessment costs and training.”

Schicker said Ballwin could receive comparable services for less money by joining an accreditation program established by the Missouri Police Chiefs Association.

Mike Mahon, in his failed effort to topple McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren last year, called the nonprofit CALEA an unaffordable luxury.

At least 41 municipal police departments in Illinois pay for CALEA services, including Mundelein, Arlington Heights, Naperville, Lake Zurich, Grayslake and St. Charles.