In the United States, certification and licensure requirements for law enforcement officers vary significantly from state to state. Policing in the United States is highly fragmented, and there are no national minimum standards for licensing police officers in the U.S. Researchers say police are given far more training on use of firearms than on de-escalating provocative situations. On average, US officers spend around 21 weeks training before they are qualified to go on patrol, which is far less than in most other developed countries.
Terminology
The agency that establishes standards for police officer selection, training, licensure, certification, and suspension/decertification is called the police officer standards and training (POST) commission in 15 states (as of 2004), including California, Arizona, and Nevada. In other states, the certification body goes by a different name, such as: Kentucky Law Enforcement Council, Massachusetts Municipal Training Council, Indiana Law Enforcement Training Board, Maryland Police and Corrections Training Commissions, Alaska Police Standards Council, and the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards.
History
Although the Wickersham Commission established by President Herbert Hoover called in 1931 for the establishment of standards for police officers (including minimal training requirements, selection standards, physical standards, and police training before and during service), state standards for selecting and training police began to be adopted only in the latter half of the 20th century. Early advocates of professionalization and reform of police included August Vollmer of the Berkeley Police Department and O. W. Wilson of the Chicago Police Department.
The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (the first body to use the acronym "POST") was established in 1959. In the same year, New York enacted the New York Training Act, which established an advisory council to make recommendations on police training to the governor. In addition to California and New York, the states of Montana and Minnesota established their POST commissions in 1959. New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Oregon followed two years later. The 1967 Katzenbach Commission (President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice) and the 1973 National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals both encouraged establishment of a POST commission in each state to set minimum standard standards for selection, training, and certification. Between 1959 and 1976, 43 state police officer standards and training bodies were established. At the behest of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Association of State Directors of Law Enforcement Training (NASDLET) was established in 1970; the association changed its name to the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST) in 1987. The last states to establish commissions were Tennessee, West Virginia, and Hawaii.
Powers and variation across states
Standards for police officers are not uniform; different states have different requirements. However, the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST), a cooperative association of leaders of various state police certification and licensing programs, has published a recommended set of "model minimum state standards" in 2004. However, there is a substantial variations in standards. More progressive police departments place greater emphasis on accreditation.
Police training
Initial training (police academy) A study in the year 2000 found that the minimum number of police training hours varied from 320 to 800. In some states, the minimal training time for officers set by state regulation is shorter than the training time to become a licensed barber, cosmetologist, or manicurist, although many police departments have training requirements in excess of the state minimum.