Public Safety

collage with CALEA accreditation logo and images of officers and squad cars

The City has contracted with the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) for law enforcement services since the City’s incorporation in 2001. Over the years, the sheriff’s office has implemented a variety of innovative measures to ensure the challenges associated with providing top-tier public safety services are effectively met while maintaining community trust.

The ACSO was the first sheriff’s office in Colorado to receive accreditation back in 1988 and it has been accredited ever since, providing greater accountability within the agency, best training practices, encouraging community involvement, and enhancing the Community Oriented Policing philosophy. See the Accreditation and Training tab below for more details.

The City values its partnership with the sheriff’s office and appreciates the work they do to keep us safe. Because of their hard work, Centennial continues to be recognized as one of the safest cities in Colorado.

View Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office 2022 Annual Report



More Public Safety Information

Below is a list of topics related to public safety in our community.

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.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office (ACSO) is committed to ensuring deputies only use reasonable and appropriate force when necessary. They accomplish this by having best practices policies and procedures (accreditation), well-trained and properly equipped deputies and staff.

Anti-bias policing and agency use of force statistics and evaluation reports are mandated as part of the CALEA accreditation process. In addition to the CALEA review, use of force incidents by ACSO that result in serious injury or death are investigated by the 18th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team. View the Use of Force policy on the Sheriff's Office website.

Body Worn Cameras 

All Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office (ACSO) deputies assigned to patrol have been equipped with body worn cameras since 2016. ACSO approved a best practices policy on body worn cameras which guides how they are used. View the Body Worn Cameras policy on the ACSO website.

Dash Cameras 

The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office does not employ any dash cameras on any of their unit squad cars.

The ACSO has a Behavioral Health Response Program. This co-responder program pairs law enforcement officers with behavioral health specialists. They respond to calls that involve:

  • persons with mental illness
  • behavioral health crisis occurrences
  • emotionally charged situations

These teams try to de-escalate situations and help people get the mental health services they need.

Learn more about the Behavioral Health Response Program.

Listen to past meetings on law enforcement.