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UpdatedMarch 2, 2021
Proposals for Systems of Records on Decertified Officers and
Police Misconduct
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of2021(JIPA,
H.R. 1280) would attempt to reforma range of law
enforcement practices, especially practices that are
considered to be biased against people of color. The bill
would, among otherthings, promote theuseofbody-worn
cameras, expand de-escalation training, reduce racial
profiling and require state and local governments to report
data on the use of force, In addition, thelegislation would
also attempt to curb so-called wandering officers (i.e., law
enforcement officers who are fired or resign under threat of
termination but are later hired by another law enforcement
agency, often in another state).
There are a litany of stories aboutlaw enforcement officers
who are alleged or found to have engaged in misconduct,
including the use ofexcessive force, beinghired at other
law enforcement agencies that are unaware ofthe officers'
full employment history. Thereis dis agreement over how
common the wandering officer phenomenon is and to what
extent theseofficers may be a threat to the public. A 2020
study of law enforcement officers in Florida found the
following:
* There are almost 1,100 wandering officers in any given
year in Florida, and they constitute about 3% of all
officers in the state.
* Fired officers tendto take longerto find newworkthan
officers who separate fromtheiragency voluntarily.
Fired officers also tend to move to smaller agencies with
fewer resources, in communities with slightly higher
proportions ofresidents of color.
* Wandering officers are more likely to be fired from their
next job orto receive a complaint fora moral character
violation than both officers hired as rookies and those
hired as veterans who have never been fired.
Recommendation of the 2 Century
Policing Task Force
In 2015, PresidentObama's TaskForce on2l Century
Policing recommended expanding the National
Decertification Index(NDI) so it could serve as a national
registry ofdecertified officers. The Task Force noted,
currently the criteria for reporting an actionon anofficer is
determined by each POST [Peace Officer Standards and
Training Commission] independently, as is the granting of
read-only access to hiring departments to use as part of their
pre-hire screening process. Expanding this systemto ensure
national and standardized reporting would assis tin ensuring
that officers who have lost their certification for mis conduct
are not easily hired in otherjuris dictions.
National Decertification Index
NDI, a database operated by the International Association
of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training
(IADLEST), contains information onpolice officers who
have had their certifications revoked. Forty-sixstates have
laws that allowfor a law enforcement officer's license or
certification to be revoked ifhe or she engaged in serious
misconduct. In these states, a decertified officer is no longer
allowed to work as law enforcement officer in the state
where his or her license or certification was revoked. Four
states (California, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Rhode Island)
and the District of Columbia have not established the
authority to decertify officers
NDI data are submitted by a state's POST Commission or a
similar body.NDIis a pointer system anddoesnot
contain information about a specific officer or the actions
leading to decertification. NDI only refers the querying
agency to the agency holding the appropriate record. POST
Commissions can query NDI, as may law enforcement
agencies that have beengranted access by the state's POST
Commission. Some 375 law enforcement agencies have
been granted direct access. All other agencies must rely on
their state's POST Commis sion, andthese commis sions do
not always query NDI.
Officer decertification standards vary by state. In s ome
states, officers can only be decertified if they are convicted
of a felony, whereas in others, officers can be decertified
for mis conduct that does not constitute a crime (e.g., using
alcohol while on duty). For states thathave decertification
authority, reporting datato NDIis voluntary in most cases.
Wandering Officers Find New jobs
A 2020 article in the Yale Law Journal on wandering
officers discussedhow law enforcement officers who are
fired from theirjobs are able to find workin other agencies.
The issues highlighted suggest that making more
information available aboutofficers' disciplinary histories
might not prevent wandering officers fromfinding new
policing jobs.
In somecases,lawenforcement agencies donotcomplete
thorough background checks for newhires; and evenif they
do, past employers might not be forthcoming with the
reason for an officer's separation. In addition, law
enforcement agencies might notreport terminations or
officer mis conduct to their POST Commis sion because it is
voluntary in most states and there are different standards for
what conduct is considered to be reportable to a POST
Commis s ion.
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