The minnesota chiefs of police association desires to create the minnesota law enforcement accreditation program (mleap)

The goal is to create an accreditation program with minnesota-based standards that helps and guides agencies in reaching current professional best practices that are affordable and obtainable for all agencies in the state. The FY 23-24 cops office addressing gaps in state accreditation grant presents a tremendous opportunity to create a state-of-the-art accreditation program that will bring law enforcement in minnesota forward, joining the nearly 40 other states that have accreditation programs. Creating a robust accreditation program would be transformative for the law enforcement community and the communities they serve. A portion of grant funds would provide micro-grants to allow smaller agencies to realize the benefits of accreditation. By leveraging existing relationships with nearby states that currently have state chiefs association-run accreditation programs, we anticipate much of the formative work can be accomplished in 6-9 months. We aim to begin accepting agency applications during the FY 23-24 grant cycle.