New Minnesota Law Enforcement Accreditation Program Seeks to Enhance Professionalism

Recent legislation across the nation and calls for police reform have made law enforcement accreditation a hot topic of conversation. An accreditation program is designed to help law enforcement agencies implement effective practices, improve outcomes, and promote safer communities by promoting excellence in policing through the adoption of standards that reflect state and national professional best practices.  

Minnesota joins other states in developing its own accreditation program

Each state may have its own unique accreditation program, with standards and processes tailored to its specific needs and context. Examples include the New York State Law Enforcement Accreditation Program, the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program, and the Ohio Collaborative Law Enforcement Accreditation Program. 

The Minnesota Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (MNLEAP) is a new voluntary initiative designed to recognize and improve the quality of law enforcement agencies by ensuring they meet specific standards and best practices. The program aims to enhance professionalism, public confidence, improved internal practices, and the overall effectiveness of law enforcement across the state.  

MNLEAP standards are consistent with the requirements of Minnesota POST, which operates under the authority of Minnesota Statutes and Administrative Rules. The MNLEAP Standards Manual details a variety of obtainable law enforcement best practices and functions, including administrative, personnel, operations, investigative, and arrestee or prisoner. 

Accreditation determined by MNLEAP Commission

The process of achieving Minnesota accreditation is outlined in the Accreditation Process Manual, which explains how an agency conducts a comprehensive self-assessment by reviewing their policies, procedures, training, and operations against the established accreditation standards. Those operations are then reviewed to ensure compliance with the established standards, after which a decision to grant accreditation is made by the MNLEAP Commission, which oversees the accreditation standards and provides guidance to law enforcement agencies across the state. If the law enforcement agency meets the standards, it is awarded accreditation and must also undergo a periodic re-accreditation assessment to ensure ongoing compliance. 

Jen Wolf, deputy administrator for the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust, currently serves on the MNLEAP Commission.  

Grants available to cover accreditation costs

Obtaining accreditation may seem cost prohibitive for some agencies, but grants are available to fund help cover the costs:

• The Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association offers financial assistance to assist small agencies with the accreditation process.  
• A federal grant for the Community Policing Accreditation Program is available through the U.S. DOJ COPS Office. The deadline for the 2025 grant period closed in June, but information about the next grant period will be posted on the website when it is available. 

Related materials

The Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association offers several materials related to MNLEAP, including: 

• Welcome & Question Guide 
• Agency application 
• Sample letter of intent 
• Fee schedule 
• Announcement/communication templates to share updates with city leaders and council members, and to highlight your agency’s progress on social media or in the news  

If you have any questions on the MNLEAP process, contact Accreditation Specialist Josh Potts at the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association at 763-516-0153 or josh@mnchiefs.org.  

I am also available to answer any questions or address any concerns. I can be contacted at 763-232-5328 or tstille@lmc.org.

Stay Safe!

Tracy

June Is National PTSD Awareness Month

June is widely recognized as National Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Month. PTSD is a mental health condition that can affect people of any age, not only after a single traumatic event, but also due to prolonged exposure to cumulative stress, repeated trauma or overwhelming life experiences. It is more common than many realize, affecting about 12 million people in the United States.

This month aims to reduce stigma, promote understanding of PTSD, and encourage people to recognize symptoms and seek treatment and support. PTSD is sometimes considered an “invisible wound” so awareness can help us be better equipped to understand and support our member cities as they work to serve the well-being of their employees and the diverse communities they serve. 

History of PTSD Awareness Month

In 2010, Congress officially designated June 27, 2010, as National Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day. Staff Sergeant Joe Biel passed away in 2007 after suffering from PTSD – his birthday, June 27 — was selected as the official PTSD Awareness Day, which is now observed each year. In 2014, Congress designated the full month of June 2014 as National Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Month.

What is PTSD?

PTSD first appeared in 1980 as a term in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Although first referred to as PTSD that year, earlier medical publications referred to conditions such as “soldier’s heart,” “shell shock,” and “war neurosis” as it was often associated with combat veterans. 

PTSD is a mental health injury that can occur after experiencing, or being exposed to, a traumatic event or prolonged stress, that can affect our emotions, brain, and body functions. At first, medical professionals believed that PTSD originated from one traumatic event. However, it is now recognized that continuous exposure to stressful situations, or cumulative stress, can also cause symptoms of PTSD. 

There are four common groups of symptoms that people with PTSD exhibit. 

• Intrusive/re-experiencing symptoms, which cause a person to re-experience the trauma through flashbacks, nightmares, distressing and intense memories, and/or emotional distress or physical reactions after being exposed to triggers. 
• Avoidance symptoms when a person tries to avoid reminders of the trauma, including avoiding people, places, conversations, activities, etc., and/or trauma-related thoughts or emotions.
• Negative changes to mood or thoughts, like blaming self or others for the trauma, decreased interest in things that were once enjoyable, negative feelings about self and the world, inability to remember the trauma clearly, persistent negative emotional state, feelings of detachment from others, and/or difficulty feeling positive emotions. 
• Changes in reactivity, such as aggression or irritability, risky or self-destructive behaviors, hypervigilance, difficulty concentrating, difficulty sleeping, and/or heightened startle response.

PTSD Treatment and Resources

PTSD symptoms may happen suddenly or gradually over time, have a delayed or immediate onset, and can present as a few symptoms or multiple symptoms. Regardless of the onset and number of symptoms, receiving treatment can help manage symptoms and sometimes alleviate them all together. For PTSD and symptoms of PTSD, it is key to seek help as soon as possible rather than waiting. 

The League of Minnesota Cities maintains many resources that cities can use to support mental health. The PTSD and Mental Health Toolkit, for example, helps members address issues of public safety mental health and PTSD. Toolkit topics include information on wellness and its relationship to mental health, mental health strategies and concepts and practices that leaders can embrace, guidelines and samples for establishing a peer support program, an overview of early intervention tips for trauma, stress, and other mental health concerns, information about effective treatment of PTSD, information on addressing and preventing crisis, practical discussions of human resources considerations, and information about other resources and organizations that work to support mental health. 

Additional Resources 

• LMC webpage on post-traumatic stress disorder
• Resolution designating June 27, 2010, as “National Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day” (S.Res.541 - 111th Congress (2009-2010))
• Resolution designating the month of June 2014 as “National Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Month” (S. Res. 481 - 113th Congress (2013-2014))
• Veteran.com - PTSD Awareness Month 
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Recognizes Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Month
• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – National Center for PTSD
• Help Raise PTSD Awareness - PTSD: National Center for PTSD 

COPS Office Training Portal Offers Free Online On-Demand Training

Since 2016, the National Center for Policing Innovation (NCPI) has collaborated with the COPS Office to build the COPS Training Portal, an accessible, web-based learning platform and resource hub for the nation’s public safety community.  

Enrollment in the portal has experienced exponential growth with more than 134,000 course enrollments from more than 67,000 public safety professionals who serve more than 10,700 law enforcement agencies nationwide.  

The COPS Training Portal provides policing resources and training on a wide variety of public safety topics including officer wellness and safety, school safety, de-escalation, after-action reviews, vehicular pursuit management, crisis response, traffic safety, leadership training and many more.

The COPS Training Portal exists to directly support your training efforts by providing a no-cost means for your entire law enforcement department to access high-quality training and resource materials to supplement the training your agency is already doing. This no-cost training is available by accessing the COPS Training Portal and creating an account, which is also available on a mobile app in the App Store or Google Play.   

If you have any comments or need guidance setting up your no-cost account, contact me at tstille@lmc.org or (651) 215-4051.

In the meantime, stay safe!    

Tracy