Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

Public Safety Committee

HB 1559

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Brief Summary of Bill

Requires the Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) to provide all new full-time law enforcement officers with a minimum of 40 hours of crisis intervention training as part of the Basic Law Enforcement Academy.
Requires all currently certified officers to take a minimum of 40 hours of crisis intervention training.
Requires all law enforcement officers to take eight hours of annual crisis intervention retraining each year as a condition of continuing employment and recertification.
Requires the CJTC to establish by rule a program and standards by which to certify organizations, other than the CJTC, that may provide crisis intervention training.

Background:

The Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) provides basic law enforcement training, and educational programs for law enforcement, corrections, and other public safety professionals in Washington.

Basic law enforcement officer training is generally required of all law enforcement officers, with the exception of volunteers, and reserve officers employed in Washington. The Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA) consists of a 720-hour program covering a wide variety of subjects including: criminal law and procedures, traffic enforcement, cultural awareness, communication and writing skills, emergency vehicle operations, firearms, crisis intervention, patrol procedures, and criminal investigation and defensive tactics.

All law enforcement personnel hired, transferred, or promoted, are required to complete the core training requirements within six months, unless the employee receives a waiver from the CJTC.

In addition to the BLEA, the CJTC provides specialize training to:

persons responsible for investigating and interviewing children for child sexual abuse and neglect cases;
law enforcement officers on vehicular pursuits;
law enforcement officers on how to interact with persons with developmental disabilities or mentally illnesses;
law enforcement officers on how to identify, respond to, and report malicious harassment crimes and other crimes of bigotry or bias;
law enforcement officers on investigating and interviewing techniques for cases involving child abuse and neglect;
law enforcement and corrections officers hired or promoted to first level supervisors and middle management positions; and
criminal justice, correctional personnel, and other public safety employees on personal crisis recognition and crisis intervention services.

The CJTC contracts with King County to provide crisis intervention training to only King County law enforcement officers. The training is funded by the Mental Illness Drug Dependency tax (known as MIDD) which is levied in King County. This crisis intervention training provides a combination of 40-hour courses, eight-hour retraining classes, and some defensive tactics training taught in combination with crisis intervention training.

Summary of Bill:

The CJTC must provide all new full-time law enforcement officers that are hired after July 1, 2015, with a minimum of 40 hours of crisis intervention training as part of the BLEA.

In addition, the CJTC must ensure that all officers certified before July 1, 2015, is provided with a minimum of 40 hours of crisis intervention training by July 1, 2015. That training must be similar in hours and content as the training offered in the BLEA. Each BLEA attendee in the program must be required to obtain written proof of completion of the program as provided by the CJTCs rules.

As a condition of continuing employment and recertification, all full-time law enforcement officers must annually complete eight-hours of annual crisis intervention retraining which is incorporated into the annual training required by the CJTC.

The CJTC must establish by rule:

a program and standards by which to certify organizations, other than the CJTC, that may provide crisis intervention training. The CJTC must consider the geographic training needs when considering programs and standards; and
standards for successful completion of the annual eight hours of crisis intervention retraining. The standards must include, at a minimum, the requirement of the successful completion of a written exam.

"Crisis intervention training" means training designed to provide tools and resources to law enforcement officers in order to respond more effectively to individuals who may be experiencing an emotional, mental, physical, behavioral, or chemical dependency crisis, distress, or problem and that are designed to increase the safety of both law enforcement and individuals in crisis.