Behavior and Certification Standards
Behavior and Certification Standards
Certification is a privilege conditioned on continued fitness. This domain tests the grounds for discipline, the due-process path, and the reporting duties that surround misconduct.
Grounds for action against a certificate
- Conviction of a felony or a crime involving moral turpitude.
- Excessive or unlawful force, dishonesty in an official matter, falsifying reports, or theft.
- Failure to meet or maintain employment, training, or fitness standards.
- Specified domestic-violence convictions.
The process
A complaint or agency referral triggers a POST investigation. POST then issues notice of the allegations and holds a hearing before the Commission, where the officer may be represented by counsel, present evidence, and cross-examine witnesses. Outcomes range from dismissal through conditions or suspension to revocation of the certificate, and the decision is subject to judicial review.
Reporting duties
An agency must notify POST when an officer is terminated, resigns or retires while under investigation, or is disciplined for specified conduct. Officers separately have a duty to intervene in and report excessive force by another officer.
Worked example
An officer resigns while under investigation for falsified reports. The resignation does not moot the matter: the agency still reports the separation to POST, the investigation continues, and the Commission can revoke the certificate whether or not the officer participates. Leaving the job does not clear the record, and a revoked officer cannot quietly re-certify elsewhere.
Traps that cost marks
Assuming resignation ends POST jurisdiction; assuming a criminal acquittal bars decertification (the Commission applies a lower civil standard, not proof beyond a reasonable doubt); assuming the agency's discipline decision is the final word; treating the duty to intervene as discretionary.