2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 29 - Law Enforcement › Article 7 - Law Enforcement Training › Section 29-7-7.1 - In-service law enforcement training; requirements; eligibility; penalties for failure to complete or report requirements.

A. To maintain certification as a police officer, in-service law enforcement training is required. In-service law enforcement training consists of a minimum of forty hours of academic instruction approved by the council for each certified police officer during each twenty-four month period of employment or service with a state or local law enforcement agency. The first required in-service law enforcement training period shall commence no later than twelve months after graduation from an approved basic law enforcement training program.
B. Each certified police officer shall provide proof of completing in-service law enforcement training requirements to the officer's law enforcement agency and the executive director no later than March 1 of the year in which the requirements must be met. The executive director shall provide annual notice to all certified police officers regarding in-service law enforcement training requirements. Failure to complete in-service law enforcement training requirements or failure to report completion to the board may be grounds for suspension of a police officer's certification and may result in the state withholding the law enforcement agency's law enforcement protection fund distribution. A police officer's certification may be reinstated by the board when the police officer presents the board with evidence of satisfying in-service law enforcement training requirements.
C. The board shall audit in-service law enforcement training compliance.
History:
1978 Comp., § 29-7-7.1, enacted by Laws 1981, ch. 114, § 7; 1993, ch. 255, § 9; 2023, ch. 86, § 5.
ANNOTATIONS
The 2023 amendment,
effective June 16, 2023, provided that failure to report completion of in-service law enforcement training requirements may be grounds for suspension of a police officer's certification and that that failure to complete or report in-service law enforcement training requirements may result in the state withholding the law enforcement agency's law enforcement protection fund distribution, and required the law enforcement certification board to audit in-service law enforcement training compliance; in the section heading, added "penalties for failure to complete or report requirements"; in Subsection A, added "To maintain certification as a police officer"; in Subsection B, deleted "All certified police officers who are eligible for in-service training shall, during each twenty-four month period of employment, complete a minimum of forty hours of in-service law enforcement training in courses approved by the board. All" and added "Each", after "Failure to complete in-service law enforcement training requirements", added "or failure to report completion to the board", and after "suspension of a police officer's certification", added "and may result in the state withholding the law enforcement agency's law enforcement protection fund distribution"; and added Subsection C.
Temporary provisions.
— Laws 2023, ch. 86, § 15 provided that the rules of the New Mexico law enforcement academy board shall continue in effect until amended or repealed by the New Mexico law enforcement standards and training council or the law enforcement certification board, as applicable.
The 1993 amendment,
effective July 1, 1993, rewrote this section.
In-service training not mandatory.
— The legislature has required the establishment of in-service training programs by the law enforcement academy, but has not compelled attendance at such programs by imposing the sanction of forfeiture of employment. As police officers are not bound to obey the requirement for in-service training, it is not mandatory. 1981 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 81-10 (rendered under prior law).