California Penal Code

§ 832.3

PEN § 832.3 Effective Jan 1, 2019Title 3 · Part 2 · Ch. 4.5

Statute text

(a)Except as provided in subdivision (e), any sheriff, undersheriff, or deputy sheriff of a county, any police officer of a city, and any police officer of a district authorized by statute to maintain a police department, who is first employed after January 1, 1975, shall successfully complete a course of training prescribed by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training before exercising the powers of a peace officer, except while participating as a trainee in a supervised field training program approved by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. Each police chief, or any other person in charge of a local law enforcement agency, appointed on or after January 1, 1999, as a condition of continued employment, shall complete the course of training pursuant to this subdivision within two years of appointment. The training course for a sheriff, an undersheriff, and a deputy sheriff of a county, and a police chief and a police officer of a city or any other local law enforcement agency, shall be the same.

(b)For the purpose of ensuring competent peace officers and standardizing the training required in subdivision (a), the commission shall develop a testing program, including standardized tests that enable (1) comparisons between presenters of the training and (2) assessments of trainee achievement. The trainees’ test scores shall be used only for the purposes enumerated in this subdivision and those research purposes as shall be approved in advance by the commission. The commission shall take all steps necessary to maintain the confidentiality of the test scores, test items, scoring keys, and other examination data used in the testing program required by this subdivision. The commission shall determine the minimum passing score for each test and the conditions for retesting students who fail. Passing these tests shall be required for successful completion of the training required in subdivision (a). Presenters approved by the commission to provide the training required in subdivision (a) shall administer the standardized tests or, at the commission’s option, shall facilitate the commission’s administration of the standardized tests to all trainees.

(c)Community colleges may give preference in enrollment to employed law enforcement trainees who shall complete training as prescribed by this section. At least 15 percent of each presentation shall consist of non-law-enforcement trainees if they are available. Preference should only be given when the trainee could not complete the course within the time required by statute, and only when no other training program is reasonably available. Average daily attendance for these courses shall be reported for state aid.

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Legislative history

Amended (as amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 86, Sec. 228) by Stats. 2018, Ch. 17, Sec. 1. (AB 1888) Effective January 1, 2019.