Law Enforcement Agency Accreditation

The New Mexico Law Enforcement Professional Standard Council, with administrative support from the Municipal League, runs the NMLEPSC Accreditation Program. The Council, which consists of the executive committee of the New Mexico Association of Chiefs of Police, is the accrediting body.

Accreditation is the ongoing process whereby agencies evaluate policy and procedure against established criteria and have compliance with that criteria verified by an independent and authoritative body. The criteria, or standards, are policy development guidelines that represent a level of quality service delivery. The true indicator of compliance, however, lies with an evaluation by trained, independent professional peers. The establishment of meaningful and professional standards and an evaluation of compliance with those standards are, therefore, the two fundamentals of an accreditation program.

The process of accreditation involves a full, detailed policy review process of all existing SOPs and a site visit evaluation conducted by the League’s independent accreditation manager and several additional accreditation managers, who are volunteers from various New Mexico Police Departments. Following the policy review and site visit, the accreditation team will report, and turn over their findings and recommendations to the Council, who will ultimately choose whether to award the accreditation.

The New Mexico Association of Chiefs of Police, the New Mexico Municipal League and the New Mexico Self Insurers’ Fund pursued the concept and development of a voluntary statewide law enforcement accreditation program for New Mexico. Their efforts resulted in the formation of the New Mexico Law Enforcement Professional Standards Council (NMLEPSC). The Council is the accrediting body tasked with developing and maintaining a formal accreditation process specific to the needs of New Mexico Law enforcement agencies. 

The goals of the NMLEPSC are to:

• strengthen crime prevention and control capabilities;
• formalize essential management and administration procedures;
• establish fair and nondiscriminatory personnel practices;
• improve service;
• solidify interagency cooperation and coordination; and
• boost citizen and staff confidence in the agency.