ABSTRACT
The chapter begins by attempting to define the role of police in the modern era, or what is referred to by Chuck Wexler, the Executive Director for the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), as the “post-George Floyd era.” What the police are really for, or do, in the United States is being seriously questioned by an outraged public. The chapter discusses law enforcement’s attempt to define its role through the power of professional status. The professionalization of policing through accreditation is described as organized autonomy signifying a license and mandate to control their environment. Credentialing contributes significantly to the power and independence of a profession or an organization. The chapter argues that the law enforcement profession has sought to raise its social status since the turn of the twentieth century. The professionalization of policing through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) is part of the pressure to legitimize the profession and policing practices by law enforcement and government officials in an effort to manage police legitimacy. The primary goal during the twentieth-century police reforms has always been to have greater control to improve the standards for individual officers and, in turn, create public value for the community.
