Kennesaw/Acworth 911 system gets accredited

Photo L-R, CALEA Commission Chair Anthony Purcell, City Manager Dr. Jeff Drobney, 911 Director Linda Davis, Mayor Derek Easterling and CALEA Executive Director Craig Hartley (photo courtesy of the City of Kennesaw)

The Kennesaw/Acworth 911 system received accreditation from the Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).

The center, located at the Kennesaw City Hall, has been in operation since 2006, and serves the cities of Acworth and Kennesaw.

“I am proud of the work of our 911 Center to be recognized and awarded the CALEA accreditation,” said City Manager, Dr. Jeff Drobney. “This speaks volumes of the dedication, professionalism and hard-work of our emergency communication team.”

According to a press release from the City of Kennesaw:

The purpose of CALEA is to improve the delivery of public safety services by maintaining a body of professional standards that support the administration of accreditation programs. The Public Safety Communications Accreditation Program provides a communications center, or the communications unit of a public safety agency, with a process to systemically review and internally assess its operations and procedures.

This program requires organizations to collect and analyze important data for the purpose of making sound operational and administrative business decisions, creating leadership and practitioner-accountability. In addition, the focus is on quality assurance, interoperability, emerging technologies, risk analysis, asset security, resources access, contemporary training, and a range of other operational functions.

There are 207 standards set by the CALEA Public Safety Communications Accreditation Program, broken down into the seven areas of organization, direction and supervision, human resources, recruitment, selection and promotion, training, operations, and critical incidents, special operations and homeland security.

The accreditation will be reviewed annually with full reaccreditation assessment every four years.

About the Kennesaw/Acworth 911 Center

The Kennesaw/Acworth 911 Center webpage describes the center as follows:

The Kennesaw/Acworth 911 Center handles all emergency calls for the cities of Acworth and Kennesaw, providing the vital communications link between residents of both cities and emergency services in Acworth, Kennesaw and Cobb County. Located at Kennesaw City Hall, the 911 Center operates 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. It became self-sufficient in 2006 and operates using no dollars from the City’s general fund.