Overview

The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies​, Inc., (CALEA), was established as an independent law enforcement agency accrediting authority in 1979 by the four major law enforcement membership associations in the United States: International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP); National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE); National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA); and Police Executive Research Forum​ (PERF​). The executive directors of these four associations appoint members to the Commission annually; an endorsement requires a majority vote for each appointment.

The Commission has 21 members​: eleven are law enforcement practitioners; the remaining ten are selected from the public and private sectors. Commissioners are appointed to a three-year term. The position of commissioner is voluntary, and while commissioners receive no salary, travel expenses and a per diem allowance are paid when they conduct Commission business.

CALEA derives its general authority from the four major law enforcement membership associations mentioned above, whose members represent approximately 80% of the law enforcement professionals in the United States. The Commission derives its accreditation authority from those agencies that voluntarily participate in the accreditation program.

Successful completion of the accreditation program requires commitment from all levels of an organization, starting with the chief executive officer and continuing through all levels. To foster commitment, a decision to participate should be voluntary. To this end, the Commission ensures that accreditation is and will continue to be voluntary.

In addition to receiving international recognition for achieving excellence, the primary benefits of accreditation are a management model, ability to provide better service to the community, controlled liability insurance costs, administrative improvements, greater accountability from supervisors, and increased governmental and community support.

The Oakland Housing Authority Police Department is proud to be one of 26 law enforcement organizations in California to receive accreditation. The Department received its first accreditation in March of 1999, and received re-accreditation in 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2021 and 2025. The Accreditation Manager is Lieutenant Casey Mooningham for Law Enforcement and Communications and Records Manager Jackie Mesterhazy for Communications.​​​​​​​​​

Public Portal

The Oakland Housing Authority Police Department undergoes annual assessments and compliance verifications of CALEA standards. We invite the public to offer comments, commendation and other information regarding the police department’s quality of service or other information relevant to the accreditation process on the CALEA public access portal. To access the Public Comment Portal, click the button below.

CALEA is not an investigatory body and subsequently the public portal should not be used to submit information for such purposes. Additionally, there will be no response other than acknowledgement to submissions: however, the information will be considered in context to its relevancy to compliance with standards and the tenets of the CALEA® Accreditation.​

Accreditation Public Comment Portal CALEA Portal