who brought it to America, and why?

J. Edgar Hoover pushed for it in the 1960s. He was disappointed by many larger police departments in the country because of their lack of skill and professionalism. He was also angry with many rural agencies, particularly in the south, for their resistance to the civil rights movement and oftentimes outright defiance of constitutional rights.

He pushed for (and got) the establishment of "Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST)" committees in most states. These committees established minimum training and qualification standards for Peace Officers usuually to include:
1) Clean criminal records.
2) Honorable discharge if a veteran.
3)Minimum educational standards (usually a high scholl diploma.
4) Psychological examinations.
5) Minimum training standards.

Most states have adopted these reforms and enforce them. As a result, peace officers in most states must meet certain standards to receive a professional license to act as a peace officer in their state.

Would you rather go back to the old days of handing a recruit a statute book and keys to a patrol car and telling him 'go forth and fight evil'?  You want to know who's responsible for police certification?  All the citizens who ever sued police departments for inadequate training of their troops.

Is this now part of your 'conspiracy theory'? "Oh my God, they're actually training the cops now!  World domination is next!!!!"   You really are a moron.

AKA "Police Accreditation."

“Accreditation is a process by which an institution is examined periodically by an impartial agency to determine whether the institution meets certain established standards. Public and Private schools, colleges, hospitals and other medical facilities, and other institutions are subject to accreditation either by private voluntary organizations or by government agencies.

In some cases, accreditation is required by law, or there may be financial penalties if an institution fails to maintain it's accreditation. In other cases, accreditation has no legal force but is important to an institution's reputation.   Being accredited means that the institution has won a "seal of approval” from its peers.”

The accreditation procedure is managed by the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc.;… which is a 21-member commission.  Accreditation is purely voluntary. No state requires it’s police agencies to be accredited.  
{Cited from [u]Police Administration[/u] by Alfred R. Stone}.

I have a friend (she's a dispatcher) who's police department recently upgraded their facilities in order to achieve some kind of acreditation.  Same indifferent officers as before.  All they do is certify their training and procedures, not that these are really effective.

Lots of money spent on consultants for no discernable improvement.

Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) accrediation is a time-consuming process. It really doen't mean squat accept that the chief gets bragging rights at Chief's conferences. We are in the process right now, and it is a pain in the posterior.

Basically, your department's policies, procedures, standards, equipment and facilities get held up to a "model" perfect police department. If your department can get to and maintain the standard set by the model department, you get accredited by CALEA and get to wear a little pin and put a logo on your patrol cars. There has been some sqwaking that your department gets some lowered insurance rates, but I do not know if that is true. Basically, it is a mangement level prestige issue, and it makes for some good PR.

andreusan,
I normally enjoy your posts.   They are entertaining and make people ask themselves good questions, but!  Who put a quarter in you today?  Is everything a conspiracy?
guns762

No sir re, just pushin buttons!

Police Accreditation is different than state certification for all LEO's.