NEWS RELEASE 21-055 - OCTOBER 6, 2021

FCAC Commissioner and Highlands County Sheriff Paul Blackman, Accreditation Manager Amanda Lewis, Major Brian Meinberg, Lieutenant Blair Waller, and CFA/FCAC Executive Director Danielle Terrell

Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt A. Hoffman is pleased to announce that the Sarasota County Correctional Facility was re-accredited by the Florida Corrections Accreditation Commission (FCAC) at a ceremony Wednesday in St. Petersburg.

Assessors conducted a three-day onsite visit in August to examine jail policies, management, operations, and support services. They found the agency in compliance with all 262 applicable standards and in their recommendation for re-accreditation, commended the agency for a flawless onsite, its ninth in a row. This accomplishment earned the sheriff’s office the commission’s prestigious Excelsior Award for the fourth time.

“Compliance with professionally accepted national and state standards including review by our peers is crucial to ensuring best practices in a law enforcement agency of our size,” commented Sheriff Hoffman. “The sworn and civilian personnel of our Corrections Operations and Services bureaus should be proud of this recognition. Their hard work does not go unnoticed.”

In addition to this FCAC jail accreditation, the agency is accredited by the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation (CFA). The Emergency Operations Bureau’s Public Safety Communications Section is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement (CALEA) for law enforcement dispatch, and the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch (NAED) for medical and fire communications. The agency’s Property and Evidence Section also successfully earned accreditation in 2020 by the International Association for Property and Evidence (IAPE), while the agency’s Drug Lab is working towards accreditation through the American Laboratory Association for Accreditation this week.

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office correctional facility was the first in the state to become fully accredited in 1998.