The Clarksville Police Department has earned an elite designation as an accredited agency, sharing this status with only approximately 5% of other police departments nationally. The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA), the gold standard for law enforcement accreditation, was created in 1979 with exceptionally high standards as a measure for accountability and oversight. CALEA is recognized as the leading authority on policies, procedures and conduct by organizations like: National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, National Sheriffs’ Association, Police Executive Research Forum, and International Association of Chiefs of Police. Earning the CALEA accreditation is 10 • JUNE 2021 | THE MEN’S ISSUE
not a permanent status. In order to maintain accreditation, in-depth review of policies, procedures, and training must be done and certified on a regular basis. Additionally, training is required more frequently, and held to a higher standard. The Clarksville Police Department first earned their accreditation in 2013, and has been recertified on three separate occasions since then. Already in the top 5% of law enforcement agencies nationally, within the department, various units have their own specific training regiments and requirements. The K-9 Services Unit consists of dual-purpose K-9s that assist all divisions of the Clarksville Police Department. These top-notch teams
are trained to find narcotics, locate missing persons, find articles related to burglaries or other crimes and physical apprehension of suspects who represent a danger to the public or officers. All K-9s attend an extensive training course focused on vehicle searches, house searches, tracking and warrant service. Officer Gary Mefford tells VIP, “Having a K-9 that is trained in more than one discipline is an asset. These dogs are capable of picking out a particular piece of trash amongst a large pile of trash as article recovery to finding a lost child or violent suspect. Each discipline has to be maintained individually to ensure the skills remain fine-tuned. There are a minimum of 19 hours per month in which training is conducted in both disciplines.”
