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POST enters into recurring annual contracts with specific training presenters for ICI Core and Foundation Specialty Courses. In March 2012, POST-certified presenter California DOJ Advanced Training Center was closed and a review of these courses resulted in several being eliminated. The remaining list of DOJ courses was evaluated. The following courses were incorporated into the ICI Program: Narcotic Investigations Course (NIC) and Officer-Involved Shooting Investigations Training Course (OISITC). These courses have been offered by DOJ to California law enforcement investigators for years, and, as evidenced by attendance rates, remain in high demand.
The courses identified for continued presentation were selected based upon the need for detective training in California. The purpose of adopting these courses within the ICI Program is to allow agencies to continue to send investigators to this critical training with minimal impact to operating budgets. All ICI courses are exempt from the 80-hour POST training reimbursement cap and, if approved, these courses would also be included in this exemption.
In preparation for continued presentation of these courses, the final DOJ offerings of NIC and OISITC were attended to evaluate the course content, delivery, and instructors. The NIC course is currently 80 hours in length and will remain the same. The NIC will require an instructor training workshop prior to the first presentation to update content, develop learning activities, and provide instructor facilitation skills training. The proposed budget will increase approximately 10% per course to accommodate the need for additional facilitators, travel expenses, and materials, and will also require additional funding for the purchase of equipment. State Center Regional Training Facility - Fresno will present five courses each fiscal year in the central valley and Northern California regions.
The OISITC will require a comprehensive curriculum revision, instructor selection and training, and is expected to increase in length from 36 hours to approximately 64 hours. The course will be redesigned from its lecture-based format to a more advanced level of hands-on, scenario-driven training that is competency-based and has real life application. The course will include several investigative teams responding to multiple simulated crime scenes with oversight by experienced detectives and criminalists, a written investigative report requirement with an attorney review component, and virtual counseling sessions involving trauma team support, psychologists, and chaplains. The target audience for this course is detectives or investigators assigned to respond to and investigate officer-involved shootings, members of officer-involved shooting investigative teams, and supervisors. It is expected that most students will have significant investigative experience, including prior or current assignments as a homicide detective. The proposed budget is approximately $40,000 higher than the DOJ model due to the need for additional hours, instructors, facilitators, supplies and equipment. Sacramento State University and South Bay Regional Public Safety Training Consortium will each present three of these courses per fiscal year in their respective locales.
The past fiscal year has seen a significant increase in the amount of attendance for ICI Homicide, Sexual Assault, and Financial Crimes courses. The existing ICI presenters have been experiencing an eight to twelve month wait list for these courses, which has created an unmet training need. In order to accommodate California law enforcement investigators with this legislatively-mandated training, these courses require an increase in the number of presentations as follows: one course offering each for the Sexual Assault and Financial Crimes courses, and two Homicide course offerings. These courses will be presented by South Bay Regional Public Safety Training Consortium. The Financial Crimes course requires increased funding to provide students with critical training tools.
These courses will be funded from existing, unused contract funds formerly allocated to DOJ via a recurring contract in previous fiscal years on an ongoing basis, beginning with fiscal year 2012-13.
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