Peace Officer Local Agency Policy

POST Regulations are intended as minimum standards. Local agencies can and do create standards that exceed these minimums. For example, it is quite common practice for agencies to administer a physical ability test, as well as a detection of deception examination (i.e., lie detector test), even though neither are required by POST. Many agencies also require standards that exceed state and POST minimums, such as a minimum age requirement of 21 years old and/or requiring a 2-year college degree.

Even for the parts of the selection process that are required by POST, it is up the agency to establish their own “cut scores.”  For example, POST does not dictate a minimum acceptable score on the reading and writing test, what aspects of personal history (e.g., past illegal drug use) are grounds for failing the background investigation, nor what type of medical or psychological findings make a candidate unsuitable for peace officer employment. These are all the responsibility of the local agency.