New York State Achieves 100% Compliance with Professional Policing Act

Strategic Insights -

New York State's Governor Kathy Hochul announced that 532 police agencies have received state certification for compliance with the Professional Policing Act of 2021, demonstrating that these agencies follow comprehensive state hiring standards for police officers and requirements to report misconduct and employment information. This achievement comes ahead of the statutory deadline, with all eligible agencies obtaining certification. The Professional Policing Act aims to ensure that police officers are qualified, of good moral character, and physically and psychologically fit for the job.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Professional Policing Act requires police agencies to follow comprehensive state hiring standards, including psychological assessments, background investigations, and fingerprint-based criminal history checks.
  • The law also mandates that agencies report officer misconduct to the relevant state agency, with village, town, and city police departments and county sheriffs' offices reporting to the state Attorney General's Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office.
  • DCJS maintains a list of police and peace officers whose training has been decertified on its website, updated monthly.
  • The Law Enforcement Agency Accreditation Council oversees the mandatory certification process and a voluntary accreditation program for police departments and sheriffs' offices.
  • Agencies must be recertified every five years.
  • Comprehensive background investigation requirements include reviewing information from family members, personal references, educational institutions, previous employers, prior neighbors or landlords, organizations and affiliations, credit agencies, the courts, law enforcement agencies, the state DMV, and the U.S. Armed Forces.
  • Police departments and sheriffs' offices must conduct in-person interviews of candidates and request searches of the state's Central Registry of Police and Peace Officers and the National Decertification Index.

Statistics:

  • 532 police agencies in New York State have received state certification for compliance with the Professional Policing Act of 2021 (100% of all eligible agencies).
  • The law gives agencies up to two years from its enactment date to obtain certification with hiring and reporting standards.
  • The state has mandated that agencies follow best practices for hiring, including fingerprint-based criminal history background checks and psychological exams.
  • Under state law, a police or peace officer's basic training certificate is immediately invalidated when an officer is removed for cause for misconduct, or an officer has resigned or retired subsequent to, or in connection with, allegations of misconduct.

Sources:

  • New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services
  • Governor Kathy Hochul
  • Professional Policing Act of 2021
  • New York State's Sex Offender Registry
  • Law Enforcement Agency Accreditation Council
  • The state Attorney General's Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office