International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement
Standards and Training
Newsletter Vol.
Page 10 -- Business Meeting
Minutes,
Issue #5 Presidents Report
Law Enforcement Officer Safety
Act of 2004 (H.R. 218)
On July 22, 2004 President
George W. Bush signed into law the Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act of 2004.
This law allows qualified active (on- or -off-duty) and honorably retired law
enforcement officers to carry their concealed firearms nationwide.
Discussion centered on what
impact the new law will have on the P.O.S.T. agencies. Specifically, what
responsibilities do P.O.S.T. agencies have to establish policies and procedures
or standards and qualifications for individuals residing in a state different
from that state which the officer retired?
There were three prevailing
views:
(1) The employing law enforcement agency had the sole
responsibility to establish policies and procedures to regulate their officers
and retires. The P.O.S.T. agenc[ies] and not obligated to establish
new policies and regulate if the [state] had none.
(2) The P.O.S.T. organizations can accept the responsibility to
establish policies, regulation and identification only for retired officer[s]
residing in their state who retired from departments outside the state.
(3) Some states reported that there appears to be an
expectation that the respective P.O.S.T. agency should assume the
responsibility to regulate all retirees regardless of the department from which
they retired.