The Commission of Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) will present an advanced accreditation recognition to the Southern Pines Police Department this week.

Louis Dekmar will present the award during at the Southern Pines Town Council work session at 3 p.m. on Monday in the community room of the police station at 450 W. Pennsylvania Ave. The public is invited to attend.

CALEA standards address all aspects of an agency's adminstration operations and training.

On July 30, the Southern Pines Police Department received an advanced accreditation recognition from the CALEA at its summer conference in Cincinnati It is the first and only municipal law enforcement agency in Moore County to achieve this standard of excellence.

At the conference, Police Chief John Letteney and Robert Temme, accreditation manager for the department, appeared before the CALEA commissioner's review pannel to discuss a report prepared by the CALEA assessment team and answer questions regarding the department's policies and procedures as they related to accreditation.

At the completion of the hearing, the CALEA Commission voted to grant the department its advanced accreditation.

In April, law enforcement executives from Florida and Illinois representing CALEA came to Southern Pines to assess the local police department to determine if it was meeting the 480 standards set by CALEA to determine if the department was providing quality service to the community.