BILL REQ. #: Z-0079.1
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2011 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/25/11. Referred to Committee on Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness.
AN ACT Relating to background investigations for peace officers and reserve officers; and amending RCW 43.101.080, 43.101.095, and 43.101.105.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 43.101.080 and 2008 c 69 s 3 are each amended to read
as follows:
The commission shall have all of the following powers:
(1) To meet at such times and places as it may deem proper;
(2) To adopt any rules and regulations as it may deem necessary;
(3) To contract for services as it deems necessary in order to
carry out its duties and responsibilities;
(4) To cooperate with and secure the cooperation of any department,
agency, or instrumentality in state, county, and city government, and
other commissions affected by or concerned with the business of the
commission;
(5) To do any and all things necessary or convenient to enable it
fully and adequately to perform its duties and to exercise the power
granted to it;
(6) To select and employ an executive director, and to empower him
or her to perform such duties and responsibilities as it may deem
necessary;
(7) To assume legal, fiscal, and program responsibility for all
training conducted by the commission;
(8) To establish, by rule and regulation, standards for the
training of criminal justice personnel where such standards are not
prescribed by statute;
(9) To own, establish, and operate, or to contract with other
qualified institutions or organizations for the operation of, training
and education programs for criminal justice personnel and to purchase,
lease, or otherwise acquire, subject to the approval of the department
of general administration, a training facility or facilities necessary
to the conducting of such programs;
(10) To establish, by rule and regulation, minimum curriculum
standards for all training programs conducted for employed criminal
justice personnel;
(11) To review and approve or reject standards for instructors of
training programs for criminal justice personnel, and to employ
personnel on a temporary basis as instructors without any loss of
employee benefits to those instructors;
(12) To direct the development of alternative, innovate, and
interdisciplinary training techniques;
(13) To review and approve or reject training programs conducted
for criminal justice personnel and rules establishing and prescribing
minimum training and education standards recommended by the training
standards and education boards;
(14) To allocate financial resources among training and education
programs conducted by the commission;
(15) To allocate training facility space among training and
education programs conducted by the commission;
(16) To issue diplomas certifying satisfactory completion of any
training or education program conducted or approved by the commission
to any person so completing such a program;
(17) To provide for the employment of such personnel as may be
practical to serve as temporary replacements for any person engaged in
a basic training program as defined by the commission;
(18) To establish rules and regulations recommended by the training
standards and education boards prescribing minimum standards relating
to physical, mental and moral fitness which shall govern the
recruitment of criminal justice personnel where such standards are not
prescribed by statute or constitutional provision;
(19) To require ((that each applicant that has been offered a
conditional offer of employment as a fully commissioned peace officer
or a fully commissioned reserve officer take and successfully pass a
psychological examination)) county, city, or state law enforcement
agencies that make a conditional offer of employment to an applicant as
a fully commissioned peace officer or a reserve office to administer a
background investigation including a check of criminal history, a
psychological examination, and a polygraph test or similar assessment
((procedure as administered by county, city, or state law enforcement
agencies as a condition of employment as a peace officer)) to each
applicant, the results of which shall be used by the employer to
determine the applicant's suitability for employment as a fully
commissioned peace officer or a reserve officer. The background
investigation, psychological examination, and the polygraph examination
shall be administered in accordance with the requirements of RCW
43.101.095(2). The employing county, city, or state law enforcement
agency may require that each peace officer or reserve officer who is
required to take a psychological examination and a polygraph or similar
test pay a portion of the testing fee based on the actual cost of the
test or four hundred dollars, whichever is less. County, city, and
state law enforcement agencies may establish a payment plan if they
determine that the peace officer or reserve officer does not readily
have the means to pay for his or her portion of the testing fee;
(20) To promote positive relationships between law enforcement and
the citizens of the state of Washington by allowing commissioners and
staff to participate in the "chief for a day program." The executive
director shall designate staff who may participate. In furtherance of
this purpose, the commission may accept grants of funds and gifts and
may use its public facilities for such purpose. At all times, the
participation of commissioners and staff shall comply with chapter
42.52 RCW and chapter 292-110 WAC.
All rules and regulations adopted by the commission shall be
adopted and administered pursuant to the administrative procedure act,
chapter 34.05 RCW, and the open public meetings act, chapter 42.30 RCW.
Sec. 2 RCW 43.101.095 and 2009 c 139 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) As a condition of continuing employment as peace officers, all
Washington peace officers: (a) Shall timely obtain certification as
peace officers, or timely obtain certification or exemption therefrom,
by meeting all requirements of RCW 43.101.200, as that section is
administered under the rules of the commission, as well by meeting any
additional requirements under this chapter; and (b) shall maintain the
basic certification as peace officers under this chapter.
(2)(a) As a condition of continuing employment for any applicant
((that)) who has been offered a conditional offer of employment as a
fully commissioned peace officer or a reserve officer after July 24,
2005, including any person whose certification has lapsed as a result
of a break of more than twenty-four consecutive months in the officer's
service as a fully commissioned peace officer or reserve officer, the
applicant shall ((successfully pass)) submit to a background
investigation including a check of criminal history, a psychological
examination, and a polygraph or similar ((test)) assessment as
administered by the county, city, or state law enforcement agency
((that complies with the following requirements:)), the results of which shall be used to determine the
applicant's suitability for employment as a fully commissioned peace
officer or a reserve officer.
(i) The psychological examination shall be administered by a
psychiatrist licensed in the state of Washington pursuant to chapter
18.71 RCW or a psychologist licensed in the state of Washington
pursuant to chapter 18.83 RCW in compliance with standards established
in rules of the commission.
(ii)
(i) The background investigation including a check of criminal
history shall be administered by the county, city, or state law
enforcement agency that made the conditional offer of employment in
compliance with standards established in the rules of the commission.
(ii) The psychological examination shall be administered by a
psychiatrist licensed in the state of Washington pursuant to chapter
18.71 RCW or a psychologist licensed in the state of Washington
pursuant to chapter 18.83 RCW, in compliance with standards established
in rules of the commission.
(iii) The polygraph ((examination)) test or similar assessment
shall be administered by an experienced ((polygrapher)) polygraph
examiner who is a graduate of a polygraph school accredited by the
American polygraph association and in compliance with standards
established in rules of the commission.
(b) The employing county, city, or state law enforcement agency may
require that each peace officer or reserve officer who is required to
take a psychological examination and a polygraph or similar test pay a
portion of the testing fee based on the actual cost of the test or four
hundred dollars, whichever is less. County, city, and state law
enforcement agencies may establish a payment plan if they determine
that the peace officer or reserve officer does not readily have the
means to pay for his or her portion of the testing fee.
(3) The commission shall certify peace officers who have satisfied,
or have been exempted by statute or by rule from, the basic training
requirements of RCW 43.101.200 on or before January 1, 2002.
Thereafter, the commission may revoke certification pursuant to this
chapter.
(4) The commission shall allow a peace officer to retain status as
a certified peace officer as long as the officer: (a) Timely meets the
basic law enforcement training requirements, or is exempted therefrom,
in whole or in part, under RCW 43.101.200 or under rule of the
commission; (b) meets or is exempted from any other requirements under
this chapter as administered under the rules adopted by the commission;
(c) is not denied certification by the commission under this chapter;
and (d) has not had certification revoked by the commission.
(5) As a prerequisite to certification, as well as a prerequisite
to pursuit of a hearing under RCW 43.101.155, a peace officer must, on
a form devised or adopted by the commission, authorize the release to
the commission of his or her personnel files, termination papers,
criminal investigation files, or other files, papers, or information
that are directly related to a certification matter or decertification
matter before the commission.
(6) The commission is authorized to receive criminal history record
information that includes nonconviction data for any purpose associated
with employment by the commission or peace officer certification under
this chapter. Dissemination or use of nonconviction data for purposes
other than that authorized in this section is prohibited.
(7) For a national criminal history records check, the commission
shall require fingerprints be submitted and searched through the
Washington state patrol identification and criminal history section.
The Washington state patrol shall forward the fingerprints to the
federal bureau of investigation.
Sec. 3 RCW 43.101.105 and 2005 c 434 s 3 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) Upon request by a peace officer's employer or on its own
initiative, the commission may deny or revoke certification of any
peace officer, after written notice and hearing, if a hearing is timely
requested by the peace officer under RCW 43.101.155, based upon a
finding of one or more of the following conditions:
(a) The peace officer has failed to timely meet all requirements
for obtaining a certificate of basic law enforcement training, a
certificate of basic law enforcement training equivalency, or a
certificate of exemption from the training;
(b) The peace officer has knowingly falsified or omitted material
information on an application for training or certification to the
commission;
(c) The peace officer has been convicted at any time of a felony
offense under the laws of this state or has been convicted of a federal
or out-of-state offense comparable to a felony under the laws of this
state; except that if a certified peace officer was convicted of a
felony before being employed as a peace officer, and the circumstances
of the prior felony conviction were fully disclosed to his or her
employer before being hired, the commission may revoke certification
only with the agreement of the employing law enforcement agency;
(d) The peace officer has been discharged for disqualifying
misconduct, the discharge is final, and some or all of the acts or
omissions forming the basis for the discharge proceedings occurred on
or after January 1, 2002;
(e) The peace officer's certificate was previously issued by
administrative error on the part of the commission; or
(f) The peace officer has interfered with an investigation or
action for denial or revocation of certificate by: (i) Knowingly
making a materially false statement to the commission; or (ii) in any
matter under investigation by or otherwise before the commission,
tampering with evidence or tampering with or intimidating any witness.
(2) After July 24, 2005, the commission shall deny certification to
any applicant ((that)) who has lost his or her certification as a
result of a break in service of more than twenty-four consecutive
months if that applicant failed to ((successfully pass the
psychological examination and the polygraph test or similar assessment
procedure required in)) comply with the requirements set forth in RCW
43.101.080(19) and 43.101.095(2)((, as administered by county, city, or
state law enforcement agencies)).