Menu
2017 Session

Budget Amendments - HB1500 (Member Request)

View Budget Item
View Budget Item amendments

Chief Patron: Peace
Law Enforcement Training Standards (language only)

Item 395 #1h

Item 395 #1h

Public Safety and Homeland Security
Department of Criminal Justice Services

Language

Page 386, after line 40, insert:

"The Director of the Criminal Justice Services Board (the Director) shall, in conjunction with the relevant stakeholders, review all compulsory minimum training standards applicable to law-enforcement officers and update them as needed.

The Director shall ensure that the training standards appropriately educate law-enforcement officers in the areas of mental health, community policing, and serving individuals who are disabled. The updated compulsory minimum training standards shall, where appropriate, include consideration of, but not be limited to, the recommendations of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The Director shall identify current resources available to officers in dealing with situations related to mental health and identify what resources are needed.

Law enforcement training standards were last updated in 1998, and jail training standards regarding mental health issues were last updated in 2008.

Any updates to the compulsory minimum training standards shall be completed by June 1, 2018, and reported to the Chairmen of the House Committees on Militia, Police, and Public Safety; Courts of Justice; and Appropriations, and to the Chairmen of the Senate Committees for Courts of Justice and Finance."



Explanation

(This amendment requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to review, and if necessary, update compulsory minimum training standards for law enforcement officers in the Commonwealth. The amendment requires the Department to complete updates to the minimum training standards by October 1, 2017, and report its findings to the Chairmen of the standing House and Senate Committees listed in the amendment.)