December 2006

D.C. Council Resolution Honors UPD

Pictured left to right: UPD Accreditation Manager Mark Balazik; UPD Assistant Chief of Police James Isom; President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg; UPD Chief of Police Dolores Stafford; Councilman Phil Mendelson (At-Large), Chair of the Judiciary Committee; and Councilman Jack Evans (Ward 2), Chair of the Finance and Revenue Committee.

GW’s University Police Department accepted a ceremonial resolution from the D.C. Council recognizing the department’s success in obtaining accreditation from the Commission
on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).

The resolution was awarded by the council during its
Nov. 14 meeting.
GW’s University Police Department (UPD) became fully accredited in March 2006, following a rigorous five-phase process that took four years to complete. UPD officials revised and improved operations to comply with 450 exacting CALEA standards, and a public hearing was held in January 2006 at which the accreditation panel heard testimony from agency staff, assessors, and members of the Foggy Bottom community. CALEA accreditation is a distinction held by less than 1 percent of all college and university law enforcement agencies nationwide and only three other law enforcement agencies in the District of Columbia.

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