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2015 SESSION

15102803D
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 636
Offered January 14, 2015
Prefiled January 14, 2015
Requesting the Department of Criminal Justice Services to study the sufficiency of funding for training law-enforcement officers, including crisis intervention training. Report.
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Patron-- LaRock
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Referred to Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, law-enforcement officers are the Commonwealth's first responders for a wide variety of emergencies; and

WHEREAS, law-enforcement duties include customer service, traffic control, service of process, making arrests, court security, handling of evidence, and crisis intervention; and

WHEREAS, many of these duties require special skills and tactics that can only be acquired through regularly offered training; and

WHEREAS, a regular, uniform program of training will put the Commonwealth's law-enforcement officers in a better position to protect the citizens of Virginia and their property; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Department of Criminal Justice Services be requested to study the sufficiency of funding for training law-enforcement officers, including crisis intervention training.

In conducting its study, the Department of Criminal Justice Services shall (i) review all sources of funds available to train Virginia's law-enforcement officers, including federal and state grants, asset forfeitures, and private sources of funding; (ii) identify funds for law-enforcement training currently available that the Commonwealth is not using, if any; (iii) identify core training programs or curricula that should be made available to all law-enforcement officers and determine the percentage of Virginia law-enforcement officers who have completed such programs; (iv) estimate the cost for additional Virginia law-enforcement officers to complete such core programs; and (v) recommend ways in which to make specialized training, including crisis intervention training, accessible to more law-enforcement officers.

All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Department of Criminal Justice Services for this study, upon request.

The Department of Criminal Justice Services shall complete its meetings by November 30, 2015, and shall submit to the Governor and the General Assembly an executive summary and a report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summary and report shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports no later than the first day of the 2016 Regular Session of the General Assembly and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.