The Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission hereby gives notice:
that on October 27, 2011, the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission has issued an order. The Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission received a petition on September 15, 2011, for a permanent waiver of subsection 11B-27.00212(14), F.A.C., from Sanibel Police Department on behalf of 37 officers for the 2006-2008 (7/1/2006 – 6/30/2008) reporting period and one officer for the 2008-2010 (7/1/2008 – 6/30/2010) reporting period. Notice of the petition was published in the Florida Administrative Weekly Vol. 37, No. 40, on October 7, 2011. Subsection 11B-27.00212(14), F.A.C., requires officers to requalify with a firearm under the supervision of a CJSTC-certified firearms instructor every two years on a course of fire mandated by Commission rule.
Petitioner supported the requested waiver by stating that the officers at issue did successfully complete the course of fire, however, the CJSTC form 86A’s for these officers cannot be located for the 2008 reporting period. For the 2010 reporting period, one of the officers was supervised by a non-CJSTC-certified firearms instructor, but the officer did successfully complete the course of fire. Petitioner stated that the officers would suffer a substantial hardship if their certifications are rendered inactive as a result of this situation. Petitioner further states that it would violate the principles of fairness to fail to recognize that the officers did successfully complete the requirement for the 2008 reporting period simply because the agency cannot locate their CJSTC form 86A’s; and, for the one officer for the 2010 reporting period, because the instructor had not become CJSTC-certified prior to supervising the requalification shoot.
On October 27, 2011, at its regularly scheduled business agenda meeting held in Ponte Vedra, Florida, the Commission found that the Petitioner’s situation is unique. The Petitioner demonstrated that the strict application of the Commission’s rules in this case would violate the principles of fairness. The officers involved did complete the requirement of subsection 11B-27.00212(14), F.A.C. The only deficiency in these officers’ requalification was that the agency cannot locate the officers’ CJSTC 86A forms. The officer who requalified under a non-CJSTC-certified firearms instructor for the 2010 reporting cycle did, in fact, successfully complete his requalification.
The Commission found that the purposes of the underlying statute, to ensure that officers receive adequate and timely retraining, will be met by granting this waiver request. The Commission granted the Petitioner’s waiver.
A copy of the Order or additional information may be obtained by contacting:
Grace A. Jaye, Assistant General Counsel, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, P. O. Box 1489, Tallahassee, FL 32327 or by telephoning (850)410-7676.