The North Liberty Police Department will move forward reviewing and adhering to Iowa Law Enforcement Accreditation standards annually after gaining accreditation on April 15 as part of a $700 annual program. 

The Iowa Law Enforcement Accreditation also provides a grant funded by the Iowa Police Chiefs’ Association, depending on the size of the law enforcement agency, that covers the initial accreditation fee and the first-year software costs if an agency is approved. 

The Iowa Law Enforcement Accreditation Program was founded in 2023 through a partnership with the Iowa Police Chiefs Association and the Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association. The program’s purpose is to help Iowa law enforcement agencies establish and maintain professional standards, increase effectiveness and efficiency, and reduce liability.

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North Liberty Police Chief Diane Venenga said officers who have a case that includes several accreditation standards will now flag and notify them to her so they can be used to demonstrate compliance with accreditation requirements. 

This can be seen when officers recite Miranda rights to a juvenile with parental consent, rather than going back to look for the documents, Venenga already has them flagged for a faster retrieval. 

She said the department has set up accreditation requirements for 21 major areas that collectively contain about 284 high-liability professional standards officers must follow. According to the 2024 standard manual, some high-liability areas may include use of force, collection and preservation of evidence, juvenile operations, and search and seizures. 

Venenga also serves on the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy’s executive board and wants to lead by example.

“I believe this is important for the legitimacy of a police department, for our community members, and to make sure we are practicing the national best practices, providing constitutional policing that is efficient and effective, and reducing overall liability for officers,” she said.  

Venenga said the NLPD applied for a grant with the Iowa Police Chiefs’ Association and was awarded coverage for the first year, but will have to pay annual payments to maintain the accreditation. 

This money will go toward reviewing their standards and on-site visits conducted by an auditor. The program’s accreditation is valid for four years, making it worth $2,800 for every accreditation cycle. 

She also mentioned the National Accreditation Program as an option, but said the department chose the accreditation program instead due to costs, uncertainty of how long it would take, and the department’s justification for becoming an accredited agency.

Venenga said several North Liberty Police Department employees have added these accreditation responsibilities to their regular administrative duties because there is no full-time position dedicated to the Iowa Law Enforcement Accreditation Program process. 

Venenga said the program will help keep their goals of keeping policies up to date, reducing insurance costs for the department, and achieving requirements. 

“This program will make sure that our policies are up to date, are hitting our annual training requirements, updating our field training program, and making sure that officers have the training, equipment, and knowledge to do their job,” Venenga said.

North Liberty is the final police department among the three major Johnson County cities to receive accreditation, following Iowa City and Coralville.

Iowa City’s public information officer, Lee Hermiston, wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan that the Iowa City Police Department has had accreditation since 2002 through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, or CALEA. 

Hermiston wrote the Iowa City Police Department was awarded its eighth re-accreditation in March 2025, with a similar four-year accreditation status. 

“Accreditation serves our department by establishing professional standards for us to uphold, ensuring we are providing the public with the highest levels of policing,” he said. “When we achieve and maintain accreditation, the public we serve is assured that our services, policies, and procedures have been thoroughly vetted and meet CALEA’s standards.”

Coralville Chief of Police Kyle Nicholson said Coralville’s Police Department was accredited by the accreditation program on Dec. 17, 2025, and was the third agency in the state to gain the status. 

Nicholson said it’s important to have the accreditation program as a qualified third-party agency to assist them with reviewing and maintaining their policies up to date. He hopes the Coralville Police Department can use future grant funding from the Iowa Police Chiefs Association.

“We are hopeful this accreditation shows the community we are very serious about our policies and procedures,” Nicholson said.