Published: Fri, 04/28/2017 - 8:39am
As a reminder, the first-year training period for 24-31-315 (1) (also known as HB 15-1287) ends June 30, 2017. Each certified peace officer shall satisfactorily complete the training by July 1, 2017, and shall satisfactorily complete the training at least once every five years thereafter. Officers that do not complete this required training will be suspended until the training is completed. We are seeing that the majority of the officers are getting the proper training completed but there have been some clerical issues because the training has not been recorded under the proper categories. POST staff has been working diligently with officers and departments to prevent officers from being suspended. The training the first year is two hours of each of the following:
- Proper Restraints &, Holds
- Anti-Bias Policing
- Community Policing &, Community Partnerships
- De-escalation
TOTAL of 8 hours in year one
If you have any questions regarding this training, please contact POST staff as soon as possible.
The spring POST Academy Director\'s meeting was held here at the Ralph Carr Judicial Building on Wednesday, April 12th. Thank you to all of the academy directors and staff that attended this informational meeting. This is a good time for us to update each other on POST rules and paperwork for the summer and fall academy sessions. Speaking of law enforcement academies, I came across a very informative bulletin released by the U.S. Department of Justice, State and Local Law Enforcement Training Academies, 2013. From 2011 to 2013, nearly 135,000 recruits (approximately 45,000 recruits per year) attended basic recruit training programs. 86% of those recruits completed the training program successfully. The complete report can be found at www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/slleta13.pdf. Here are some other important statistics:
- About 1 in 7 recruits entering basic training programs were female.
- Nearly 1 in 3 recruits were members of a racial or ethnic minority.
- Excluding field training, basic training programs lasted an average of about 840 hours, or 21 weeks.
- Nearly all academies required basic training on community policing, domestic violence and mental illness.
During the fall of 2016, POST staff and the POST Board Grant subcommittee worked toward creating a formula for grant funding disbursement. It was decided that 90% of available funds will go to the training regions, and 10% will go to providers, such as CSOC &, COVA. Each region will get a base allocation, with additional funds allocated based on the number of small, medium and large agencies within each region. Small agencies are those with 35 or fewer officers (85% of the LE population), medium agencies have 36-99 officers (6% of the LE population), and large agencies have 100 and above (9% of the LE population). The annual POST Grant subcommittee meeting was held on April 26. The total amount awarded for law enforcement regional training in Colorado for fiscal year 2018 was $2.96 million dollars.
The POST Board has been continuing to pursue a statewide PoliceOne membership to provide online training for all Colorado law enforcement. Approvals have been given and contracts have been signed by POST &, PoliceOne! Initial spending approval has been granted by the Colorado Legislature and now we are awaiting final spending approval, which may come next week. POST will pay for a one-year online subscription, for two years, for ANY LE agency in Colorado that wants an online subscription, beginning July 1, 2017 and ending June 30, 2019. If you have already entered into an agreement with PoliceOne and have already made payments, PoliceOne has agreed to suspend your current (already paid for) subscription, beginning July 1, 2017, and then have a prorated amount added on after the POST subscription is terminated. The use of Police One is not a mandate by POST, but rather a free tool being offered to agencies to help meet mandated (and other) training requirements.
The POST website continues to be a very effective way for us to communicate the many things going on within POST and Colorado law enforcement in general. There are training calendars, job opportunities, FAQs, forms and rules, but we also have announcements for other LE events. Reach out to POST if there is something we can help your agency promote on our website. Our POST Facebook page continues to attract more and more attention.
As always, I welcome your feedback.
Cory Amend
POST Director
Upcoming Important Dates
April 30, 2017 - Third quarter reports due to POST
June 2 - SME meetings &, POST Board meeting
June 30, 2017 - Training period for HB15-1287 ends June 30, 2017 - all FY 2017 expenditures must be reported, all items purchased must be received