A Florida police officer has been fired for demanding free bar beverages from Starbucks.  Okay.  So he goes somewhere else and gets a job as a police officer, right?  Maybe, but it’s a lot more difficult now.

Most states (including Florida and Idaho) have a legislature-created agency to certify their state’s law enforcement officers meet specific standards for training, retraining, and retention.  In Florida, the agency is the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission.  In Idaho that agency is the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council.  It administers its duties through the Idaho POST Academy. 

It follows, then, that if states can and must certify their law enforcement officers, they can and must decertify those whose conduct or circumstances make them no longer suitable or eligible to be state-certified law enforcement officers.   The Peace Officer Decertification document is a good explanation of what can get a peace officer decertified in Idaho.

But what happens if the Florida officer (who has presumably been decertified for misconduct in Florida) moves to Idaho and applies to Idaho POST for peace officer certification?  Will Idaho necessarily know what happened in Florida?  Probably. 

Both Florida and Idaho participate in the Peace Officer Certification Information System (POCIS).  That system “…was established to reduce the interstate rehiring of law enforcement officers decertified for misconduct by U.S. Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Boards and Commissions.”  During the applicant’s background investigation, the POCIS inquiry would point Idaho authorities to the Florida agency from which the applicant was fired.  Idaho would presumably contact that agency and determine the reasons for decertification. 

Not all states participate in POCIS, but those that do have yet another useful tool to help ensure they consider only the most suitable applicants for peace officer positions.