CHAPTER 31
FORMERLY
SENATE BILL NO. 42
AS AMENDED BY SENATE AMENDMENT NO. 1
AND HOUSE AMENDMENTS NOS. 2 AND 3
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 84, TITLE 11, DELAWARE CODE, RELATING TO A POLICE TRAINING PROGRAM.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:
Section 1. Amend Chapter 84, Title 11, Delaware Code, by striking said Chapter in its entirety and substituting in lieu thereof the following:
"CHAPTER 84. DELAWARE POLICE TRAINING PROGRAM
§8401. Definitions
As used in this Chapter:
(1) 'Approved School' means a school authorized by the Council to provide a mandatory training and education for police officers as prescribed in this Chapter.
(2) 'Council' means the Council on Police Training.
(3) 'Permanent appointment' means appointment by the authority of any municipality or governmental unit in or of this State or the University of Delaware to permanent status as a police officer.
(4) 'Probationary appointment' means appointment by the authority of any municipality or government unit in or of this State or the University of Delaware of any full-time police officer who is intended to be granted permanent status, but prior to such certification.
(5) 'Part-time appointment' means appointment for at least 10 months in any 12-month period for an average of less than 30 hours per week.
(6) 'Seasonal appointment' means appointment for less than 6 months each year but more than 4 weeks for police duties necessitated by seasonal demands.
(7) 'Temporary appointment' means appointment for less than 4 weeks per year.
(8) 'Police officer' means a sworn member of a pollee force or other law enforcement agency of this State or of any county or municipality who is responsible for the prevention and the detection of crime and the enforcement of laws of this State or other governmental units within the State.
(a) For purposes of this Chapter this term shall include officers of the University of Delaware Police Division.
(b) For purposes of this Chapter this term shall not include the following: (i) a sheriff, regular deputy sheriff or constable;
(ii) an environmental protection officer of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Game Warden, a security force for a state agency or other governmental unit; or
(iii) a person holding police power by virtue of occupying any other position or office.
§8402. Members of Council
(1) The Council shall be composed of 9 members.
(2) The Council shall be composed of: A Chairman to be appointed by and to serve at the pleasure of the Governor; the Attorney General; the Superintendent of the Delaware State Police; the Chief of the City of Wilmington Police, the Chief of the New Castle County Police Department; the Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction; the President of the Delaware League of Local Governments; the Mayor or Police Commissioner of an Incorporated municipality in Kent County, to be appointed by the Governor; and the Mayor or Police Commissioner of an incorporated municipality in Sussex County, to be appointed by the Governor. The Chairman shall have had substantial practical experience in the field of law enforcement.
§8403. Organization of the Council
(1) A Vice-Chairman and a Secretary shall be elected from among the members of the Council. The Council shall hold no less than 2 regular meetings each year and may meet at such other times as it may determine. The Chairman shall fix the time and place of such meetings in his discretion, but upon written request of any 3 members, the Chairman shall call a meeting pursuant to the terms of such request. Five members shall constitute a quorum. Each member of the Council may have a proxy to represent him at Council meetings.
(2) Notwithstanding any provision of law, Council membership shall not disqualify any member from holding any other public or private employment or constitute a forfeit of such office.
(3) Council members shall receive no compensation for their services but shall be allowed their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties.
§8909. Powers and Duties
(1) The Council may:
(a) Establish minimum qualifications for applicants as police officers;
(b) Establish minimum educational and training qualifications requisite to permanent appointment as a police officer;
(c) Issue certification of completion of police officer training prescribed under this Chapter;
(d) Suspend or revoke certification in the event that an individual: (1) obtained a certificate by fraud or deceit; (2) has been convicted of a felony or of a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude; (3) has failed to successfully complete any in-service or advanced training required by Council.
(e) Prescribe standards for in-service or continued training of police officers;
(f) Establish minimum educational and training qualifications for part-time, temporary, seasonal or probationary employment as a police officer;
(g) Establish certification and recertification rquirements for police officer applicants who have previously been employed with permanent appointment as a police officer but have not been so employed within the 12 months prior to his/her application.
(h) Prescribe equipment and facility standards for schools at which police training courses shall be conducted, including but not limited to existing county or municipal schools;
(i) Establish minimum training requirements, attendance requirements and standards of operations for police training schools;
(j) Prescribe minimum qualifications for instructors at such schools and certify, as qualified, or decertify such instructors to their particular courses of study;
(k) Approve and issue certificates of approval to such police training schools, to inspect such schools from time to time and to revoke for cause any approval or certificate issued to such schools;
(l) Consult and cooperate with all agencies of government, state and local, concerning the development and administration of the training and standard program and to contract with such agencies as it deems necessary to the performance of its powers and duties;
(m) Accept or receive grants or donations from any source, public or private, for the purposes of this Chapter;
(n) Make such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purposes and objectives of this Chapter;
(o) Provide a modification from the upplicution of any provision of this Chapter or the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, for any police officer of a municipality if: (1) the police officer is employed on a part-time, seasonal or temporary basis, and (2) the municipality maim; application for such modification rind establishes that it will suffer a hardship if the modification is not granted;
(p) Establish an approved interim training program for part-time, seasonal, temporary and probationary police officers which shall be required prior to active police duty, and in addition, if the officer is to be armed, that the officer be certified in the use.of firearms at an approved police training school;
(2) The Director of the Delaware State Police Training Division shall be responsible for administering the mandatory training and education for police officers program with responsibility and authority to obtain professional assistance from other police and professional organizations to accomplish the purposes and objectives of the program.
§8405. Mandatory Training of Police Officers; Exceptions
(1) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, every municipality or other governmental unit of this State employing or Intending to employ on a permanent basis police officers, shall authorize attendance at an approved school by persons holding a probationary appointment as police officer. Every such municipality or other governmental unit or the University of Delaware shall require that no person be given or accept a permenent appointment as a police officer unless such person has successfully completed a police training and education course at an approved school.
(2) Police officers already serving under permanent appointment on July 11, 1969 shall not be compelled to meet this requirement as a condition of (a) tenure, (b) continuing employment, (c) reemployment, or (d) employment by another police agency, provided that the period of suspended services under (c) or (d) does not exceed 12 months. Failure of any such police officer to fulfill such requirements as the council may hereafter establish by regulation, shall not make him ineligible for promotion to which he might otherwise be eligible. The exemptions granted under this subsection shall not be construed to include inservice or continued training requirements which may be established by Council.
(3) Nothing contained in this chapter shall limit the authority, power or duties of the Secretary of Public Safety as set forth in Title 29, §8203.
§8406. Probationary Appointment
Notwithstanding the provision of 58405 of this title, a probationary appointment as a police officer may be made for a total period not exceeding 1 year within a single department or combination of departments for the purpose of enabling a person seeking permanent appointment to take a police training course or program as prescribed under this Chapter. No person shall be permitted to take a police training course unless he holds such probationary, part-time, seasonal or temporary appointment, except in the discretion of the Council, and such appointee shall be entitled to a leave of absence with pay during the period of attendance at such police training course or program.
§8407. Compensation and Expenses
During any training program the compensation or wages of any trainee police officer shall be the responsibility of the employing authority. The responsibility for providing all other costs, including but not limited to tuition, living expenses, books and equipment excluding transportation costs of any trainee police officer shall be that of the Council.
§8408. Appropriations
The General Assembly shall appropriate each year to the Council through the Department of Public Safety such funds as are necessary for the purpose of carrying out this Chapter.
§8409. Recruitment of Trained Police Officers
Every municipality or other governmental unit of this State or the Unviersity of Delaware intending to employ on a permanent basis police officers who have satisfactorily completed the mandatory training as required under the provisions of this Chapter and who have completed their training while in the employ of another municipality or another governmental unit of this State or the University of Delaware within 2 years from the date of satisfactory completion of such mandatory training, shall reimburse the municipality or other governmental unit or the University of Delaware with whom the police officer was employed at the time of attending the mandatory training program for the cost of training such officer, which shall include the salary, uniforms and equipment and other training expenses incurred while the officer was attending the mandatory training program. During the first year after completion of the mandatory training program the municipality or other governmental unit or the University of Delaware by whom the police officer was employed at the time of attending the mandatory training program shall be reimbursed for 100 percent (100%) for those expenses. During the second year the municipality or other governmental unit shall be reimbursed for 50 percent (50%) of those expenses.
§8410. Sanction for Uncertified Police Officers
(1) Police officers of the State or any county or municipality or the University of Delaware which do not meet the requirements of this Chapter and the criteria as established by the Council shall not have the authority to enforce the laws of the State.
(2) A police force of any county or municipality which does not meet the requirements of this Chapter and the criteria established by the Council, will be ineligible to apply for or receive State Aid to Local Law Enforcement funds.
§8411. This Act shall become effective on July1,1981."
Approved June 15, 1981.