Police Certification (H 6104)

While most states employ a statewide certification or decertification system for law enforcement personnel, Rhode Island is one of only four states that does not. This legislation would correct that by creating strict criteria for the decertification of officers who engage in unacceptable conduct. While we generally expressed support for the provisions of the bill, we raised concerns about one section that provided financial bonuses to officers who took advanced training courses on such topics as “bias-free policing,” or advanced “de-escalation” instead of mandating such training as a matter of course.