Administrative Rules of Montana
Department 23 - JUSTICE
Chapter 23.13 - PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER STANDARDS AND TRAINING (POST)
Subchapter 23.13.2 - Certification
Rule 23.13.206 - REQUIREMENTS FOR THE BASIC CERTIFICATE
Universal Citation: MT Admin Rules 23.13.206
Current through Register Vol. 6, March 22, 2024
(1) POST will issue basic certificates in the following disciplines:
(a) peace officer;
(b) detention/corrections officer;
(c) probation and parole officer;
(d) misdemeanor probation/pretrial services
officer;
(e) public safety
communications officer;
(f)
coroner; and
(g) reserve
officer.
(2) In addition to ARM 23.13.204 and 23.13.205, the following are required for the award of the basic certificate:
(a) All Montana public
safety officers must have completed:
(i) the
probationary period prescribed by law or by the current appointing authority,
but in any case, have a minimum of one year discipline-specific experience with
the current appointing authority; and
(ii) the basic course or the equivalency as
defined by the council.
(b) Public safety officers with out-of-state
training or who have been formerly appointed by a federal agency, state, tribe,
county, municipality, city, or town who do not have basic certification and are
appointed by a Montana law enforcement and/or public safety agency:
(i) must have completed the probationary
period prescribed by law, but in any case, have a minimum of one year
experience with the present appointing authority;
(ii) whose training or service time is
determined by the council, the director, or the director's designee as
equivalent to the basic course must successfully complete an equivalency
program, approved by the council and administered by the MLEA. The council will
require those who fail an equivalency program to successfully complete the
basic course at the academy; and
(iii) whose training or service time is
determined by the council, the director, or the director's designee as not
equivalent to the basic course must, within one year of initial appointment,
successfully complete the basic course.
(c) All of the training and equivalency
requirements for the basic certificate must be accomplished within one year of
the initial appointment.
(d) The
council, the director, or the director's designee may grant a one-time
extension to the one-year time requirement for public safety officers upon the
written application of the officer's appointing authority. The application must
explain the circumstances that make the extension necessary. The council may
not grant an extension to exceed 180 days. Factors that the council may
consider in granting or rejecting the extension include but are not limited to:
(i) illness of the public safety officer or a
member of the public safety officer's immediate family;
(ii) absence of reasonable access to the
basic course, or the legal training course; and/or
(iii) an unreasonable shortage of personnel
within the department.
(e) A public safety officer who has been
issued a basic certificate by the council and whose last date of service as a
public safety officer, in the discipline for which the officer received a basic
certificate was less than 36 months prior to the date of the person's present
appointment as a public safety officer, in the discipline for which the officer
received a basic certificate, is not required to fulfill the basic educational
requirements as set forth in these rules.
(f) If the last date of service as a public
safety officer, in the discipline for which the officer received a basic
certificate, is more than 36 months but less than 60 months prior to the date
of present appointment as a public safety officer, in the discipline for which
the officer received a basic certificate, the public safety officer may satisfy
the basic requirement by successfully passing a basic equivalency course
administered by the academy. If the public safety officer fails the basic
equivalency course, the basic course shall be completed within the time frames
set forth in the rules. If no basic equivalency course exists for the public
safety officer's specific discipline, then the applicable basic course must be
completed within one year of the public safety officer's most recent
appointment.
(3) An officer meeting the qualifications outlined above will be issued a basic POST certificate. The discipline of the basic POST certificate issued will correspond to the basic training course the officer attended. POST will not reissue a basic certificate merely to change the discipline listed.
AUTH: 2-15-2029, MCA; IMP: 2-15-2029, 44-4-403, MCA
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Montana may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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