POST reports surge in misconduct reports, tightens affidavit review and delegates certain disqualifications to executive director

The Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training on Nov. 1 received a broad update on certification activity, case workloads and changes to how POST documents officer separations.

Michelle Wyler, Certification Bureau chief, and Mike Radford, Professional Conduct Bureau chief (Los Angeles), presented data and explained changes POST has made since implementation of SB 2 and expanded reporting obligations. Radford said POST had received "over 30,000 total agency misconduct reports" and that the agency’s case inventory had grown to more than 20,700 cases. Wyler summarized personnel-action statistics to Oct. 31: POST recorded 82,301 full‑time peace officers, 6,496 appointments approved this year, and 6,636 separations; 304 of those separations were tied to allegations of serious misconduct affecting 236 distinct officers.

Wyler told commissioners that since Aug. 21 POST staff are reviewing affidavits of separation before they are published through EDI and are returning forms to agencies that omit required information. She said earlier in the year roughly 24% of separation affidavits were missing the requested detail in Box 14; of those who completed Box 14, the chief reasons were resignations to move to a different agency (about 19%) and overall 62% of separations were resignations or retirements in good standing.

POST is also changing how it shares information with prospective employers while balancing legal constraints. "We are now also providing a copy of the affidavit of separation if one is available," Wyler said, but she and several commissioners cautioned that agencies sometimes cannot provide more detailed explanations on a public form because of employment-law constraints; city attorneys can advise agencies to limit what they put on a public affidavit for probationary separations.

On enforcement activity, Wyler reported 49 immediate temporary suspensions (executive‑director level actions), 55 voluntary surrenders, 68 revocations and 81 individuals deemed ineligible so far this year (through Oct. 31). Radford detailed intake priorities and outcomes across POST’s investigative units and noted the evidentiary challenges of proving decertification cases to the higher licensing standard (clear and convincing evidence). He also summarized adjudicative activity: the POST hearing board had issued recommendations and the Commission had heard multiple cases this year.

As a procedural change, the Commission approved a regulatory amendment and a procedural delegation so that disqualifications under Government Code section 1029 (certain felony convictions that automatically disqualify) may be processed by executive‑director action rather than requiring full Commission vote; commissioners also approved technical clarifications to regulations 1003 (affidavit of separation), 1005 (minimum training standards clarification for jail deputies), 1202 (certification), and 1203 (decertification default/revocation language). The record before the Commission included a list of 13 officers whose certificates were revoked based on qualifying felony convictions; the Commission approved those revocations as presented.

Why this matters: POST’s new reporting regime under SB 2 has dramatically increased the volume of information the agency must review. Changes to affidavit handling and delegation of automatic disqualifications are administrative measures intended to speed processing while preserving legal safeguards. Commissioners and POST staff also discussed the limits of publicly shared separation information and the need for thorough local background investigations.

What’s next: POST will continue to refine affidavit collection and agency training, coordinate with labor and agency counsel on disclosure limits, and implement the delegated 1029 disqualification process.