Pictured L to R: CALEA Executive Director W. Craig Hartley, Jr., ECSO Chief Deputy Sean Holmes, ECSO Accreditation Manager Joseph Pinch, Sheriff of Elkhart County, Jeff Siegel, and CALEA Commissioner Matthew Packard
On November 15, 2025, the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office was awarded its 12th consecutive accreditation award through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) by meeting all the requirements of a highly regarded and broadly recognized body of Law Enforcement Accreditation standards. During the awards ceremony, the Sheriff’s Office once again received CALEA’s Meritorious Award, for 15 or more years of continuous years of accreditation.
CALEA Accreditation status is valid for a period of four years. The employees of the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office have clearly demonstrated an ongoing commitment to professionalism since 1984 when the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office became the first Sheriff’s office in the nation to receive CALEA Accreditation, which has undoubtedly become an institutionalized management model for the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office.
With 41 uninterrupted years of Accreditation qualification, our Law Enforcement Accreditation represents the satisfactory completion of a continuous process of thorough office-wide self-evaluation, concluded by an outside review by a team of independent Assessors and Commissioners. It also represents our ongoing acceptance of the obligation to continue the pursuit of professional excellence by working toward fulfillment of future standards promulgated by CALEA that may be applicable to the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office.