The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office is accredited by The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). CALEA accreditation is a voluntary process and participating public safety agencies have demonstrated a commitment to professionalism. The program is intended to enhance organization service capacities and effectiveness, serve as a tool for policy decisions and management, promote transparency and community trust, and establish a platform for continuous review. To achieve and maintain CALEA accreditation, the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office must not only have best practices policies on subjects such as use of force and anti-bias policing, but also prove that agency members are trained on and comply with those policies. This is accomplished by the audit process where independent CALEA assessors audit agency records, documents and required performance reporting to ensure compliance with best practices standards.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office was the first sheriff’s office in Colorado to receive accreditation back in 1988 and has maintained CALEA accreditation ever since. Most recently (2019) CALEA awarded ACSO the prestigious Accreditation With Excellence Award for exceeding compliance and accreditation standards.
Agencies that have received accreditation with ACA, CALEA, and NCCHC are eligible for the National Sheriffs' Association coveted Triple Crown Award. On June 24, 2021, the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office received the Triple Crown award. The sheriff’s office is the first law enforcement agency in the United States to attain “Triple Crown status” under a fourth sheriff. This accreditation is so rare, only 49 sheriff offices in the U.S. have attained this status and only 22 have attained it under a different sheriff than the one who had originally attained the Triple Crown Award.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office deputies complete mandatory training on an annual basis on the areas of Anti-bias policing, Use of Force, De-escalation, Mental Health and Disabilities, Criminal Procedure, Statutory and Case Law, Interpersonal Communication, and many other topics relevant to policing in our community. Much of this training is mandated and verified during the CALEA accreditation process. Some of this training is above and beyond what is required because the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office is committed to ensuring deputies are very well trained. View the Training Policy on their Policies and Directives page.