LDF submitted comments on the National Accreditation Standards on February 17, 2023, to the Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). The comments are in response to Section 19(c) of Exec. Order 14074. In this letter, LDF provides recommendations for improving the National Accreditation Standards. Among our recommendations. LDF asks that accrediting bodies be required to consider three things in particular when they decide whether to offer accreditation to a law enforcement agency:
1) Whether the agency has mechanisms for properly vetting candidates for misconduct and lack of fitness to serve;
2) Whether the agency has appropriate disciplinary mechanisms for officers who have committed misconduct or demonstrated a lack of fitness to serve; and
3) Whether the agency conducts proper oversight of entities that provide continuing education and training to its officers, so officers are not allowed to receive training from entities with anti-governmental or white nationalist ideologies (for example, the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association).
Read the full letter here.
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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil rights law organization. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Please note that LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights.
