The Cornelius Police Department was awarded for the 4th time with National Accreditation on November 16, 2013 through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). After a three year self-assessment phase and an on-site inspection of policy, procedures, equipment and facilities by CALEA assessors, Chief Bence Hoyle, Major Kevin Black, Captain Jeff Ramsey, Lt. Bubba Wally and Police Planner and Accreditation Manager Christina Tadlock attended a hearing before a panel of CALEA Commissioners in Winston Salem, NC.

After interviews with the panel of Commissioners, a unanimous vote to recommend the Advanced Accreditation under the Gold Standard of Accreditation was granted. The Gold Standard assessment focuses on processes and outcomes, insuring an agency not only has recommended policies in place but are carrying out the spirit and intent of those policies on a daily basis. In addition, the Commission awarded the Accreditation with Excellence Award to the Cornelius Police Department. The added distinction of excellence is to provide agencies an opportunity to be further recognized for the effective use of accreditation as a model for the delivery of enhanced public safety services and management professionalism.

The criteria for the CALEA Accreditation with Excellence Award are:
• Must have a minimum of two previous consecutive CALEA Accreditation awards.
• Must not have conditions or noncompliance issues resulting from the current or last assessment.
• Current assessment must have been conducted under the CALEA® Gold Standard Assessment model.
• At the time of the current assessment, the agency must be in compliance with 90 percent of all applicable other-than-mandatory standards.
• Current Assessment Report must have limited file maintenance and not more than two applied discretion issues.
• Must not be operating under any active Federal Consent Decree or Memorandum of Understanding, or state-level complementary action.
• Must not currently be affected by issues that detract from the overall tenets or goals of CALEA Accreditation.
• Must receive a unanimous recommendation of support from the assigned CALEA Review Committee

The CALEA accreditation is a voluntary process to gain international accreditation, which is a highly prized recognition of public safety professional excellence. Accreditation status is reviewed every three years, and the agency must submit annual reports attesting continued compliance with those standards under which it was initially accredited. The Cornelius Police Department first received its CALEA accreditation in 2004 and was re-accredited in 2007 and 2010. The last time the department received a perfect 100 percent score and was honored as a "Flagship Agency" during the CALEA Annual Conference in Garden Grove, California.