NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on January 29, 2009, the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission has issued an order.
Petition for waiver of subsection 11B-27.00212(14), F.A.C., was received from Alachua County Sheriff’s Office and Deputy Steven Kane on December 18, 2008. Notice of the petition was published in the Florida Administrative Weekly Vol. 35, No. 1, January 9, 2009. Petitioner wished to waive that portion of the rule that requires officers to be separated from employment if they do not meet their firearms requalification requirements. Deputy Kane was injured in the line of duty which prevented his timely requalification. He met the firearms requalification standard as soon as he returned to active, full-time duty. He sought to have his break-in-service removed from his officer records because it was through no fault of his own that he was injured in the line of duty and could not meet the rule requirements on time. The Commission met on January 29, 2009, and considered Deputy Kane’s petition. The Commission found that Deputy Kane’s circumstances are unique and that he demonstrated a that strict application of the rule in his case would violate the principles of fairness in that Deputy Kane was given a break-in-service for failing to timely requalify for firearms when his failure to meet the standard was a direct result of an on-the-job injury which physically prevented him from meeting the rule’s standard. Also, Deputy Kane’s employer argued that Deputy Kane was eager to come back to work after his convalescence and met his firearms requirement as soon as he was cleared by his physician to come back to full-time, active duty. Deputy Kane demonstrated that the requirements of the underlying statute have been met and will continue to be met through granting this waiver. Accordingly, the Commission granted Deputy Kane’s request for a waiver of subsection 11B-27.00212(14), F.A.C., on January 29, 2009, at its regularly scheduled Business Agenda meeting in Lake Mary, Florida.
A copy of the Order may be obtained by contacting: Grace A. Jaye, Assistant General Counsel, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, P. O. Box 1489, Tallahassee, FL 32302, (850)410-7676.