27/07/2026
Southeastern Massachusetts Regional 911 District Becomes First 911 Agency in Massachusetts to Earn CALEA Accreditation
Commission awards national accreditation credential to SEMRECC following review in Omaha; district serves Easton, Foxborough, Mansfield, and Norton
FOXBOROUGH, Mass., July 27, 2026 — The Southeastern Massachusetts Regional 911 District has been awarded accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA®), becoming the first 911 agency in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to achieve the international credential.
The district joins just 126 municipal, county, and regional communications centers nationwide that hold the accreditation - roughly two percent of the nation's 911 centers - and is the only accredited agency of any kind in Massachusetts.
The Commission voted to confer accredited status following the district’s review hearing on July 24, 2026, in Omaha, Nebraska. The award caps a multi-year effort in which the district demonstrated compliance with the CALEA Standards for Public Safety Communications Agencies, a body of more than 200 standards covering emergency call handling, training, staffing, technology, records integrity, critical incident preparedness, and community engagement.
The Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Emergency Communications Center (SEMRECC) is the primary Public Safety Answering Point for the towns of Easton, Foxborough, Mansfield, and Norton, dispatching police, fire, and emergency medical services for all four communities. The district also serves as Bristol County Fire Control, coordinating mutual aid and major incident response countywide.
“This accreditation belongs to the professionals who conduct our mission every day, whether two in the morning or in the middle of the day” said Robert Verdone, Executive Director of the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional 911 District. “CALEA does not accredit intentions. Assessors sat with our people, read our files, observed our operations, and measured what we actually do against a national benchmark. Being the first agency in Massachusetts to clear that bar says something about the standard our four communities set when they built this district.”
Paige Duncan, Chairperson of the district’s Board of Directors, said the credential validates the regional model the member towns adopted. “When Easton, Foxborough, Mansfield, and Norton came together, the promise was that regionalization would deliver a level of service no single town could sustain alone,” Duncan said. “This is independent, outside confirmation that the promise has been kept. The board is proud of the staff and grateful to the residents and officials in all four communities who supported this from the beginning.”
CALEA was established in 1979 by law enforcement’s major executive associations as an independent credentialing authority. Its Public Safety Communications Accreditation Program, developed in partnership with the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International (APCO), has been in place since 1999. Accreditation is voluntary and requires agencies to maintain comprehensive written directives, collect and analyze operational data, and submit to independent review by trained assessors from outside the agency. Accredited status is not permanent; agencies remain under continuous review and must reaffirm compliance on an ongoing basis.
Michael Mezhberg, the district’s Accreditation Manager, led the compliance effort and served as the district’s liaison to the Commission. “Every policy we have was pulled apart, refined where it needed to be, and then proved out with evidence,” Mezhberg said. “The value was never the certificate at the end. It was the process, finding the gaps, validating the strengths and ensuring best practices are employed agencywide. That work continues now that we are accredited.”
About the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional 911 District
The Southeastern Massachusetts Regional 911 District is a government authority formed under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and governed by a board of directors and an executive director. Operating as the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Emergency Communications Center (SEMRECC), the district has served as the primary Public Safety Answering Point for Easton, Foxborough, Mansfield, and Norton since 2019 and as Bristol County Fire Control. SEMRECC receives wireline and wireless 911 calls directly, is a certified advanced Emergency Medical Dispatch center, and provides incident support, communications planning, and specialized services to its member agencies. Headquarters and operations are located in Foxborough. For more information, visit semrecc.gov.
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Pictured (L-R): Col. Matthew Packard, Chair, CALEA; Robert Verdone, Executive Director, Southeastern Massachusetts Regional 911 District; Michael Mezhberg, Section Chief, Southeastern Massachusetts Regional 911 District; W. Craig Hartley Jr., Executive Director, CALEA.
Town of Mansfield, MA Town of Foxborough, MA Town of Easton, MA Norton, Massachusetts Massachusetts State 911 C.A.L.E.A. MCSA - Massachusetts Communications Supervisors Association APCO International
