Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission and Law ...

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implementation of this rudimentary database program, we will be able to keep an accurate recordof officers’ career path in a database file rather than the labor-intensive paper system.3. The POST Commission does not have a policy requiring meeting attendanceFindingThe POST Commission serves as the primary regulatory body for Tennessee lawenforcement. Among its statutory duties, the commission is charged with developing, planning,and implementing law enforcement training programs for all local law enforcement officers inTennessee and establishing uniform standards for the employment and training of police officers.Despite this duty of public service, the commission does not have a minimum mandatoryattendance requirement to ensure the presence of its 18 commission members at meetings.A review of meeting minutes for fiscal years ending June 30, 2005, 2006, and 2007revealed that some commission members did not attend meetings on a regular basis. The tablebelow shows the number of voting commission members who missed at least half of themeetings (within the scope of their appointments) for each year under review. One commissionmember only attended 2 of 32 meetings within the scope of appointment.Number of memberswho missed at leasthalf of the meetingsPOST Commission Meeting AttendanceFY 2005 FY 2006 FY 20073 3 4Poor attendance may affect the commission’s ability to conduct business. It reduces thenumber of members available for a quorum and representation of interests specified by law. Forthe years under review, at least two meetings were conducted without a quorum (a minimum ofnine voting members). For two additional meetings, auditors could not determine if a quorumwas present because not all members were listed as either “present” or “absent.”According to the POST Commission’s Executive Secretary, there is no policy requiringmembers to attend meetings. He further stated that the commission has discussed adopting sucha requirement but ultimately decided against it in deference to the appointing authorities.Currently, the commission does not have bylaws guiding the procedural aspects of meetings.While the commission follows its own rules and regulations and Robert’s Rules of Order, neitherof these include requirements for meeting attendance.Beginning in January 2007, eight new members were appointed to the commission asother members’ terms expired (and the vacancies were filled). Only one of the four memberswho missed at least half of the meetings in 2007 was reappointed to the commission, and therehave been no attendance problems since the new appointments were made. However, without a8
mandatory attendance requirement, the commission has no means to enforce a member’spresence at a meeting.RecommendationThe POST Commission should consider adopting a mandatory attendance requirement toensure the presence of commission members at meetings. The commission should then notifythe appointing authorities if their appointees fail to meet those meeting requirements. The POSTCommission should consider establishing bylaws to govern the procedural aspects ofcommission meetings. Commission staff should record attendance (or absence) of all membersat each meeting.Management’s CommentWe concur in part. The POST Commission has discussed in years past meetingattendance from within the membership of the commission. Rule-making attempts have beenmade in the past to require meeting attendance of its members. However, due to the statutorymake-up of the POST Commission, and the fact that every member is appointed by anotherentity, it would be difficult for the POST Commission to make any sanction on members for lackof attendance. (The vast majority of members are appointed by the Governor, coterminous withhis term; four members are named by the House and Senate; one member is a designee of theAttorney General’s Office; and the Executive Secretary is by statute the Director of the LawEnforcement Training Academy.) However, it shall be the policy of the POST Commission tonotify the Governor’s Boards and Commissions office in the event of attendance problems orother impairments to a member of the commission.OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTSThe topics discussed below did not warrant a finding but are included in this reportbecause of their effect on the operations of the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST)Commission, the Law Enforcement Training Academy (LETA), and the citizens of Tennessee.NEED FOR NON-LETA TRAINING ACADEMIESIt appears a need exists for non-LETA training academies in Tennessee. While LETAcould physically train a larger number of officers in its basic classes, it has chosen to limit classsize. Students currently wishing to enroll in classes must wait up to six months to attend basictraining at LETA.9
Page 1 and 2: Peace Officer Standards and Trainin
Page 3 and 4: John G. MorganComptrollerSTATE OF T
Page 5 and 6: December 2006, and by February 2007
Page 7 and 8: Performance AuditPeace Officer Stan
Page 9: thereby enhancing professionalism i
Page 12 and 13: Management’s CommentWe concur. Wi
Page 16 and 17: LETA conducts five ten-week basic t
Page 18 and 19: To be qualified to receive the inco
Page 20 and 21: which they are currently, or were f
Page 22 and 23: ecords, or other activities not req
Page 24 and 25: Because constables are not regulate
Page 26 and 27: appropriate actions had been taken.
Page 28: POST Commission Staff by Job Title,

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