February 2012

NEW “DID YOU KNOW” VIDEO ON DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY FEATURED ON LEARNING PORTAL

The second in a series of “Did You Know” videos is now on the Learning Portal under Hotsheets. This sixty-second video takes a humorous look at the issues officers can face when contacting members of a foreign consulate.

After the video, viewers are provided a link to the Office of Foreign Missions within the United States Department of State. From this Website, individuals or agencies can order free reference materials to carry in the field or course curriculum to facilitate training.

The “Did You Know” videos are intended to provide officers relevant information on contemporary topics in an interesting and effective way.

Questions about the “Did You Know” video program may be directed to Bureau Chief Jan Bullard, Learning Technology Resources Bureau, at (916) 227-4829.

POST BASIC COURSE TEST TASK FORCE

The Basic Course Test Task Force is comprised of basic course directors and coordinators whose mission is to effectively address testing issues in the basic courses. After numerous meetings in 2011, the Task Force recommended extensive changes to the POST Test Administration and Security Guidelines. The recommended changes were approved by the Commission in October 2011. The changes were then submitted to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) and the 45-day public comment period concluded February 20, 2012. They become effective mid-April 2012. The Basic Course Test Task Force is currently working on a policy development guide to assist all basic course presenters with modifying and updating testing policies. The Task Force will hold three workshops on policy development beginning in May 2012, at the Basic Course Consortium.

Questions about the Test Task Force may be directed to Associate Governmental Program Analyst Jennifer Imlay, Standards and Evaluation Services Bureau, at (916) 227-3917.

INSTRUCTOR DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

The POST Instructor Development Institute (IDI) contracts with Napa Valley College – Criminal Justice Training Center and the San Diego Regional Training Center for the presentation of the Basic through Master levels of instructor training courses. The IDI Core Team met in February 2012, to discuss recent progress and updates within the Institute and to introduce “The Process,” the official quarterly newsletter of IDI.

Upcoming events for the IDI include: the issuance of the first edition of “The Process” Newsletter on March 1, the Instructor Standards Advisory Council Meeting on March 27-28 in San Francisco, the annual Instructor Training Symposium in San Diego on April 10-13, and the Institute’s Team Building Workshop planned for June 26-28. Information including details about the IDI, “The Process” Newsletter, and instructor training course dates and locations can be found on the IDI Website.

Questions about the IDI may be directed to Senior Consultant Anne Brewer, Training Program Services Bureau, at (916) 227-4895.

SHERMAN BLOCK SUPERVISORY LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE FACILITATOR’S WORKSHOP CONDUCTED

The Sherman Block Supervisory Leadership Institute (SBSLI) conducted a Facilitator’s Workshop in San Diego on February 23-25, 2012. The workshop introduced both new and veteran SBSLI facilitators to the recently revised curriculum. All eight sessions and the 13 books that are required reading for the courses were reviewed. The movie “Invictus” was previewed and discussed for possible use in the program. The books, Power of Myth and War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, were also reviewed and discussed for possible inclusion in the required reading list.

Briefings were conducted and status reports were given on the following topics:

• SLI Auditor Training
• The SLI Assessment Process
• Curriculum Design Committee
• The SLI Facilitator’s Tool Kit
• Resource Materials Overview
• “Everyday Survival” Dialogue (Instructor Best Practices Debriefing)
• The SLI Course Evaluation Instrument

Questions about the SBSLI program may be directed to Senior Consultant Kevin Hart, Center for Leadership Development Bureau, at (916) 227-2824.

UPDATE OF LEARNING DOMAIN 37 – PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

The Basic Training Bureau hosted a workshop in San Diego to update Learning Domain (LD) 37 – People with Disabilities. POST staff and subject matter resources routinely review and update LD content to ensure currency and job task relevancy. The participants were from a variety of disciplines, including active and retired law enforcement personnel, academy instructors, and medical clinicians who are actively involved in the mental health field. A subject matter resource from the San Diego County Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (P.E.R.T.) provided a presentation on best practices involving the collaboration between mental health clinicians and peace officers to reduce calls for service, provide long-term mental health solutions, and reduce the frequency of violent encounters between mentally ill offenders and law enforcement.

The working group developed proposed revisions to the Training and Testing Specifications (TTS), which will be submitted to the Commission for review in June 2012. They also updated the content of the LD 37 Student Workbook. The TTS and workbook revisions will result in a more contemporary curriculum and comport with evolving clinical and legal terminology.

The group reviewed existing scenario tests, and rewrote portions of the scripts to refresh the fact patterns and bring new life to outdated scenarios. Further, the group worked on generating several new scenario scripts to reflect current and emerging trends, such as suicide threats made via social media.

Questions about the LD 37 workshop may be directed to Senior Consultant Robert Ziglar, Basic Training Bureau, at (916) 227-4259.

UPDATED CROWD MANAGEMENT, INTERVENTION, AND CONTROL GUIDELINES

In January, POST facilitated an in-depth review and revision of the 2003 POST Crowd Management and Civil Disobedience Guidelines. The purpose of this review was to update the guidelines, and address evolving trends in crowd management and law enforcement response to acts of civil disobedience. The review was conducted by a panel of subject matter resources consisting of law enforcement leaders from throughout California and recognized legal experts.

The 2003 guidelines were thoroughly reviewed. Subsequently, seven new guidelines, updated case law, and a listing of training resources were added to the guidelines document. The guidelines are intended to be a resource for law enforcement leaders that provides foundational guidance for the facilitation of First Amendment rights, while allowing discretion and flexibility in the development of individual agency policies.

At its February meeting, the Commission approved the revised Guidelines for Crowd Management, Intervention, and Control. 

Questions about the POST Guidelines for Crowd Management, Intervention, and Control may be directed to Senior Consultant Robert “R.C.” Smith, Training Program Services Bureau, at (916) 227-3902.

“EDUCATING FOR CAREERS CONFERENCE” PRESENTATION

During February, POST was one of the presenters at the 18th Annual Educating for Careers Conference, hosted by the California Department of Education at the Sacramento Convention Center. More than 2,000 California educators representing California Partnership Academies attended the conference. The California Partnership Academy (CPA) program focuses on small learning communities within larger high schools, usually enrolling students in grades 10-12. The CPA program is aligned with the Department of Education’s California Career Technical Education (CCTE) program, which focuses on 15 career sectors and multiple career pathways. The law enforcement profession or pathway is part of the Public Services sector.

The POST presentation addressed the future development of partnerships between law enforcement and school districts for the formation of “career pipelines” to meet future law enforcement recruitment needs. The career pipeline concept provides for the introduction of students to the law enforcement career pathway in elementary school and then encourages students to continue their interest through related curricula in their middle and high school years, and ultimately into college. POST received a commitment from CCTE to develop four pipeline programs in the upcoming fiscal year.

Questions about the school-based public safety program may be directed to Senior Consultant Greg Kyritsis, Center for Leadership Development Bureau, at (916) 227-2822.

POST LEARNING PORTAL: EXCITING NEW LOOK AND FEEL!

The Learning Technology Resources Bureau is pleased to announce an exciting new look and feel to the Learning Portal. With the primary focus on learner needs, POST staff met with many users to make the Portal more useful and accessible to more people. Besides the new look, the Portal also includes the following new features:

• Central image bar and simplified Search for finding products;
• “Hotsheets” that call attention to new and important items;
• Broader support of various browsers, like Chrome and Safari, and Mac users;
• Support of mobile devices, such as the iPad and mobile phones;
• “Share this” feature making it easy to copy links to products and paste them into emails;
• New-and-easier-to-use video player, plus an increased number of high-quality MPEG-4 videos;
• Star rating feature; and
• Download of one’s online training record to a PDF file.

There are now over 52,000 registered users of the Learning Portal, who are taking advantage of free training and a wealth of information and resources. The reviews from the field have been very positive, and staff continues to monitor user comments and interactions to ensure the design decisions are effective and are meeting the needs of learners.

Questions about the new Learning Portal may be directed to Senior Instructional Systems Engineer Rich Dunn, Learning Technology Resources Bureau, at (916) 227-4262.

TERMINATION OF MARICOPA POLICE SERVICES

During a Special City Council meeting in December 2011, the Maricopa City Council voted unanimously to approve "the use of the Kern County Sheriff's Department for police services on a temporary emergency basis." In another Special City Council meeting in January 2012, the agenda included an item addressing a "Contract for Law Enforcement Service between City of Maricopa and County of Kern (Kern County Sheriff's Office) and to Appropriate Funds Therefor."

The Maricopa City Council met as scheduled in January 2012; however, the minutes of that meeting have not been approved for public release and will be reviewed at the next scheduled meeting in February 2012. The Kern County Sheriff's Department is continuing to provide law enforcement services to the City of Maricopa, pending completion and execution of the contract.

Local news media published articles indicating that the City Council did approve termination of City police services in favor of a Sheriff's contract. The February 2012 Agenda for the Maricopa City Council includes items to sell motorcycles and vehicles used by the former police department, indicating the expected finality of the decision.

Question about the termination of Maricopa Police Department may be directed to Senior Consultant Ron Wood, Training Delivery and Compliance Bureau, at (916) 227-4869.

 
POST HOSTS A MEETING TO REVIEW LAWS AND REGULATIONS COVERING THE DELIVERY OF BASIC TRAINING FOR PEACE OFFICERS AND OTHER PUBLIC SAFETY DISCIPLINES

The Penal Code specifies that basic training for peace officers shall be proscribed by the Commission. On that basis, the Commission has adopted regulations establishing minimum standards for training which are codified in Title 11, Division 2 of the California Code of Regulations.

POST certifies entities to present basic training that are either community colleges or law enforcement agencies affiliated with community colleges. Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, as adopted by the California Community College Board of Governors, governs the operation of community colleges.

The delivery of POST-certified basic courses under Title 11 in a community college setting that comes under Title 5 gives rise to differences in the application of regulations in areas such as fees, prerequisites, cheating, sanctions for probation, and student dismissal for unsatisfactory performance. Other public safety disciplines, such as the fire service and corrections, have related issues.

In order to identify these issues, POST invited representatives from academies, other presenters of basic courses; the Chancellor’s Office; the California Association of Administration of Justice Educators; the Corrections Standards Authority; and community colleges that present law enforcement, fire, and corrections training to a meeting to discuss areas of mutual concern.

The meeting was intended to be preliminary in nature and included overviews of applicable aspects of both Title 5 and Title 11 and a discussion to identify the scope of the problem. The attendees agreed to form a working committee with members researching the identified issues in preparation for a follow-up meeting in April 2012.

Questions about the Basic Courses Presentation meeting may be directed to Senior Consultant Robert Ziglar, Basic Training Bureau, at (916) 227-4259.

TRAINING REIMBURSEMENT REQUEST (TRR) UPDATE

The Reimbursement Unit is excited to report that it processed $1,839,624.18 in TRR claims for the month of February 2012. This is significantly higher than recent months. The Reimbursement Unit exceeded this amount in September 2009, when $1.9 million in reimbursement claims were processed.

Questions about the TRRs may be directed to Senior Accounting Officer Francis Dugyon, Administrative Services Bureau, at (916) 227-3925.

POST EMAIL SYSTEM MIGRATION ON TRACK

Computer Services Bureau network staff has been in the process of planning and preparing for its email system migration to a central email system as required legislation (AB 2408) and Executive Order S-03-10. The email migration project started in October 2010 and is nearly completed. Pilot testers are slated to be migrated to the new California Email Services (CES) in April 2012. Once successful testing is complete, the rest of the organization will be migrated to the CES system by June 2012. As part of this email migration, staff have been pilot testing and evaluating a variety of smartphones. These include not only current Blackberry phones, but also iPhones and Droid phones. Based on the results of these evaluations, a decision will be made as to which smartphones POST will use.

Questions about the email system migration may be directed to Staff Information Systems Analyst Linda Sabella, Computer Services Bureau, at (916) 227-6882.

LIBRARY NEWS

The Library and Research Center is pleased to announce the new design of the online catalog. Interested in crowd management or the effects of the economic downturn on police budgets? Type the term “crowd management,” “economic downturn”, or “budgets” to get the latest material. Many electronic documents are readily available. Library staff continues to take an active role in the research instruction of training managers and the students of POST training programs.

The Library Website is built as a research tool; it is a good place to start when you have an assignment. There is now an internal research site for POST staff on the POST intranet. Just sign in, choose the “staff” tab and look under “internal resources.” This space aggregates resources under the topic. Next steps include commercial databases, which will be available to staff and students.

Questions about the Library may be directed to Supervising Librarian Laurel Espell, Administration Services Bureau, at (916) 227-3204; or call the Library Help Desk, at (916) 227-3765.

SAFE DRIVING CAMPAIGN PRESENTATION AT FLETC

The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) hosted a summit in February to address line-of-duty deaths attributable to distracted driving. Participants included law enforcement leaders and trainers who are committed to reducing vehicle-related law enforcement deaths. Dale Stockton, Editor in Chief of Law Officer Magazine, and a member of the POST SAFE Driving Campaign Advisory Board, attended the summit. Mr. Stockton made a presentation to summit attendees on the SAFE Driving Campaign and the Below 100 initiative. Below 100 is an initiative to reduce law enforcement line-of-duty deaths to fewer than one hundred per year. The initiative is le5d by the team at Law Officer Magazine, with support from outside sponsors. Below 100 and the SAFE Driving Campaign share similar objectives and have joined in their outreach efforts to improve officer safety and achieve reductions in fatal and serious injury law enforcement traffic collisions nationwide.

Questions about the SAFE Driving Campaign may be directed to Senior Consultant Robert "R.C." Smith, Training Program Services Bureau, at (916) 227-3902.

MANAGEMENT COUNSELING STUDY REQUESTS

Penal Code Section 13513 requires POST to provide counseling services upon the request of a local jurisdiction for the purpose of improving its administration, management, or operations.

The Management Counseling Services Bureau provides many services to local law enforcement agencies to improve the quality of police services at each level of their organization. Chief among the services requested is a written management study report. A typical management study focuses on an agency’s organizational structure, property system, patrol workload and staffing, or records system.

The Management Counseling Services Bureau continues to experience a severe staffing shortage, which has resulted in a backlog of study requests. At present, 10 studies are in progress, with an additional 33 requests pending. These numbers represent requests from 33 police departments, 7 sheriffs’ departments, 2 community college police departments, and 1 state agency.

Questions about the POST management studies may be directed to Bureau Chief Richard Bond, Management Counseling Services Bureau, at (916) 227-4874.

The Administrative Progress Report is a monthly status report that informs POST Commissioners and the California law enforcement community of recent progress on POST projects and instructional programs under development, and other information of importance to our mission to continually enhance the professionalism of California law enforcement.

©2012 Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training | 1601 Alhambra Blvd. Sacramento, CA 95816
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