WHEREAS, the members of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) support and encourage the highest standards of conduct in themselves and the people who serve in their agencies; and

WHEREAS, a crucial component of staffing an ethical law enforcement agency begins in the hiring process; and

WHEREAS, the need to identify prior misconduct of law enforcement applicants is fundamental in hiring qualified, ethical applicants; and

WHEREAS, the need for a cooperative database system for the interstate sharing of information relating to the decertification of law enforcement officers is paramount in avoiding hiring officers that have already been found to be unfit for law enforcement; and

WHEREAS, the IACP supported the Law Enforcement and Correctional Officers Employment Registration Act of 1996, which proposed a comprehensive national registry for all police officers; and

WHEREAS, the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST) began a pilot effort in 1999 of a database for decertified officers that continues today and already has over 6,800 records from 17 states in the database; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED that the membership of the IACP does hereby strongly and respectfully request that federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement leaders support the continued development and funding of the National Decertification Database, as planned and initiated by IADLEST; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED that the membership of the IACP encourages each state association of chiefs of police to support state legislative efforts to authorize and incorporate its state’s data in the national database.