The California Commission on POST has been certifying courses for presenters since the 1960s. Course certification was created as a mechanism for transferring training funds from POST to the field. Course certification requires presenters to prepare and submit a training needs assessments, course administrative information, an expanded course outline, instructor resumes, and hourly distributions. Additionally, a budget analysis is required for tuition exceeding $100 and safety policies are required for manipulative skills courses.

In January of 2017, POST launched a field survey to measure presenters' satisfaction with course certification. The top priorities identified for change were:

• Technology for entering instructor resumes
• The amount of time it takes to get a new course certified
• Improved consistency between consultants     
• The amount of time it takes to get an existing course modified     
• Recourse

The pilot tested a new labor model and two new course certification types.

The new labor model included trained administrative staff and a law enforcement consultant (an independent consultant, not the regional consultant) certifying courses for Regions 1, 6, and 10. Regional consultants in Regions 3 and 8 certified their own region's courses using the new certification process.  The remaining POST regions (2,4,5,7, and 9) continued course certification as prescribed by existing Regulation.

The new certification types fulfill a wider variety of needs and fall into two categories: Certification I and II. Certification I is relatively simple with a quick turnaround time. Certification I allows for courses previously excluded from certification, for example, the "one-and-done" and agency-specific courses.  By comparison, Certification II courses heighten adult learning and provide flexibility to the instructor.

Since the pilot certification requirements do not adhere to Regulations for course certification, the pilot project was proposed to the Commission in June of 2017. The Commission approved the pilot project for one year, July 2017 to July 2018. Based on current data collected, POST staff is preparing a regulation change proposal for the Commission to review at a future Commission Meeting.

During the course certification pilot delivery, the Computer Services Bureau completed test versions of the Instructor Resume Builder and Instructor Resume Manager.  The tools are designed to assist instructors and presenters with management of multiple resumes for different courses, and they eliminate the redundancy of entering the same or similar resumes into EDI repeatedly.

In the Certification Pilot Program, inquiries were received from POST presenters regarding the efficacy of a Safety Attestation (Attachment A) to supplement the safety policies for manipulative skills training courses as provided in Regulation 1052(b)(5).

In response to literary research conducted by POST staff, comments from POST presenters and a preliminary legal opinion offered by POST legal counsel, a Safety Attestation was drafted to be evaluated in the pilot. 

At the time of this report, the pilot has been active for ten months. POST Staff have collected the following data from the POST Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) System:

• A total of 251 courses were certified, 71 in the course certification pilot
• Submission by the agency and certification by POST was 18.8 days under the regular process, versus 9.8 days in the pilot process, or 48% faster than the standard course certification process
• Review and approval by the POST consultant and bureau chief was 10.2 days in the regular process, versus 5.8 days in the pilot process, or 43.62% faster course review time through pilot process
• For Regions 3 and 8, consultants administered both the regular certification process and the pilot process. After courses were submitted to POST for review, it took an average of 12.4 days for a course to be certified through regular process, versus an average of nine days in the pilot process, or 27.59% faster if the same reviewer used the pilot process to review a course

To address consistency, Regions 1, 6, and 10, utilized a new labor model for certifications by leveraging POST trained administrative staff with no previous law enforcement background.  Administrative staff took responsibility for creating template introductions, repeatable instructions and lower echelon support for presenters during the pilot certification process.  Administrative staff also reviewed and provided direction for revisions based on regulatory requirements.  Law Enforcement Consultants (LEC) were utilized as the subsequent reviewer whenever law enforcement skills and knowledge were required to certify a course.  This process allowed POST to provide faster customer service, and led to a more productive use of time for limited LEC personnel resources.

Each time a course was certified, presenters were allowed to participate in a feedback survey.  To date, feedback from presenters has been overwhelmingly positive.  Approximately 78% of the participants indicated the pilot certification process was shorter than usual.  A total of 77.9% indicated they were very satisfied with the pilot certification changes compared to the regular certification process. The course certification pilot was given a 5-star rating by all participants who chose to rate the pilot process.

The Computer Services Bureau completed test versions of the new Instructor Resume Builder and Instructor Resume Manager tools.  As a result, instructors can teach multiple subjects at different locations using the same resume.  The Instructor Resume Builder allows an instructor to maintain multiple resumes.  With online authorization permissions granted by individual instructors, presenters can access resumes through the Instructor Resume Manager.  Presenters are able to use these resumes through the course certification and modification process in EDI.  This technology update will minimize or eliminate the need for different presenters to re-enter an instructor resume for different courses, and significantly streamlines the course certification data entry process.

POST staff raised questions about possible liability exposure to POST for certification of specific manipulative skills courses with an inherent risk potential for physical injury, i.e. firearms, arrest & control techniques, less lethal munition and tactical operations training.

Subsequent open discussion with POST presenters generated a recommendation to draft a Safety Attestation to supplement the existing requirement for safety policies for manipulative skills courses. The Safety Attestation would be evaluated as an appropriate element of the Certification Pilot Program.

The need for a Safety Attestation was endorsed by POST legal counsel. The counsel submitted that the use of a Safety Attestation would mitigate POST liability exposure. The attestation may also hold agencies accountable to a standard of care to ensure the physical safety of peace officers during training activities that involve a risk for injury. This will also expedite the course certification timeline.

After dialogue with POST presenters, research by POST staff and consultation with POST legal counsel, a draft of the Safety Attestation document was developed for pilot testing. It is attached for consideration by the Commission.

POST staff is preparing Regulation 1052 change proposals for future Commission consideration.  If the Commission approves the proposed Regulatory changes, the six to eight month OAL process will follow.  Extending the course certification pilot for twelve months will allow presenters uninterrupted access to the benefits of the pilot certification process, and will provide opportunity for continued feedback and refinement of safety policy attestation and instructor technology tools.