Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission: Powers and duties; regulations. [Effective July 1, 2020.]

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1. The Commission:

(a) Shall meet at the call of the Chair, who must be elected by a majority vote of the members of the Commission.

(b) Shall provide for and encourage the training and education of persons whose primary duty is law enforcement to ensure the safety of the residents of and visitors to this State.

(c) Shall adopt regulations establishing minimum standards for the certification and decertification, recruitment, selection and training of peace officers. The regulations must establish:

(1) Requirements for basic training for category I, category II and category III peace officers and reserve peace officers;

(2) Standards for programs for the continuing education of peace officers, including minimum courses of study and requirements concerning attendance, which must require that all peace officers annually complete not less than 12 hours of continuing education in courses that address:

(I) Racial profiling;

(II) Mental health;

(III) The well being of officers;

(IV) Implicit bias recognition;

(V) De-escalation;

(VI) Human trafficking; and

(VII) Firearms.

(3) Qualifications for instructors of peace officers; and

(4) Requirements for the certification of a course of training.

(d) Shall, when necessary, present courses of training and continuing education courses for category I, category II and category III peace officers and reserve peace officers.

(e) May make necessary inquiries to determine whether the agencies of this State and of the local governments are complying with standards set forth in its regulations.

(f) Shall carry out the duties required of the Commission pursuant to NRS 432B.610 and 432B.620.

(g) May perform any other acts that may be necessary and appropriate to the functions of the Commission as set forth in NRS 289.450 to 289.680, inclusive.

(h) May enter into an interlocal agreement with an Indian tribe to provide training to and certification of persons employed as police officers by that Indian tribe.

(i) Shall develop and approve a standard curriculum of certified training programs in crisis intervention, which may be made available in an electronic format, and which address specialized responses to persons with mental illness and train peace officers to identify the signs and symptoms of mental illness, to de-escalate situations involving persons who appear to be experiencing a behavioral health crisis and, if appropriate, to connect such persons to treatment. A peace officer who completes any program developed pursuant to this paragraph must be issued a certificate of completion.

2. Regulations adopted by the Commission:

(a) Apply to all agencies of this State and of local governments in this State that employ persons as peace officers;

(b) Must require that all peace officers receive training in the handling of cases involving abuse or neglect of children or missing children;

(c) Must require that all peace officers receive training in the handling of cases involving abuse, neglect, exploitation, isolation and abandonment of older persons or vulnerable persons; and

(d) May require that training be carried on at institutions which it approves in those regulations.

(Added to NRS by 1999, 2421; A 2001, 1730; 2009, 2449; 2015, 831; 2019, 1009, 3495, 4462, effective July 1, 2020)


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