This morning the House Judiciary Committee took testimony on several bills that would defined what "regularly employed" means for a law enforcement officer. Last year SB 449 passed the Senate with the League supporting. The committee considered that bill as well as two others, HBs 4779 and 5040.
For a number of years, the Commission on Law Enforcement Standards Act (administered by MCOLES) has had a requirement that a police officer be "regularly employed" but this was not defined. MCOLES worked for several years to come up with a definition of regularly employed settling on a standard of 520 hours annually. This standard has been scrutinized by smaller departments who rely on part-time officers to provide proper public safety.
Only one state has a minimum hours standard and that state, Idaho, uses a standard of 120 hours annually.
SB 449 changes that standard to 120 hours annually. Police officers must still be certified, but this allows more flexibility, particularly for small departments in these tough economic times.
The House bills not only change the standard to 120 hours but also allow a department to request a waiver from MCOLES. The Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police is neutral on the waiver portion of the legislation and the League has not taken a position.
Samantha Harkins works for the Michigan Municipal League handling municipal services issues. She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org.
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