The International Foundation for Protection Officers (IFPO) and The Loss Prevention Foundation (LPF) have announced the formation of the Institute for Professional Certification and Accreditation (IPCA). The Institute will be charged with the design and implementation of a process setting standards to accredit academic programs in the Applied Social Sciences such as Asset Protection/Loss Prevention/Retail Security and uniformed security. IPCA will also work to establish accreditation of professional certifications in the above mentioned areas of specialization.
“The vision set forth by IPCA will substantially enhance our industry," Sandi Davis, executive director of IFPO, said in a statement. "The platform which is being created to incorporate a superior template to evaluate professional certifications and accreditations will lend a significant improvement to such industry standards. Professional development has become more important than ever in career advancement. With the efforts of the IPCA, we can be assured only quality and expertise will be recognized."
“LPF is excited to support IPCA, which will provide a mechanism of setting and implementing standards for related academic programs and professional certifications," said LPF president Gene Smith, LPC. "Businesses are challenging universities and associations more than ever, to create specific degree programs and certifications that prepare students for employment. The IPCA will help to ensure the creation of an environment of cooperation and mutual respect through integration of the needs of business and government with the expertise of academia. IPCA will ensure both quality of presentation with scientific rigor at every level of involvement”, stated .
"The Northeastern Association of Criminal Justice Sciences (NEACJS) is currently studying the formulation of security program standards. We believe that is important to maintain quality programming in the emerging fields of homeland and corporate security as well as its subdisciplines. As President of the NEACJS I believe it is important to establish quality benchmarks in the field’, said David R. Champion, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Slippery Rock University.
Added Jim Ramsay, PhD, MA, CSP, Chairman of the Department of Security Studies at Embry Riddle University: “In a time of tremendous need for resilience and security, academic programs are growing across the nation. Not only do these programs make sense, they resonate with both public and private sector organizations and students. From all over the U.S., academic programs are growing in such new and emergent academic disciplines as homeland security, cybersecurity, security management, emergency management, etc. However, not all programs have the best interests of the student in mind. Degree integrity is often difficult to ensure when new and popular disciplines spur on the growth of academic degree programs. So, in order to maintain the integrity and accountability of a degree, and therefore preserve the value of the degree to both industry and to students, IPCA is embarking on a cutting edge, national effort to bring together professional associations that represent the greater security studies enterprise. The main gist of IPCA is to organize program level accreditation and to make it a cost-effective and obtainable option for programs in homeland security, criminal justice, emergency management, cybersecurity, loss prevention, security management, etc. As the president of the International Society for Preparedness, Resilience and Security, I fully endorse and support the IPCA and its efforts focused on developing national models of accreditation for these, and other, academic programs."
