GENERAL NOTICE 97-01

To:            Chief Law Enforcement Officers
                 Resident Troopers
                 Training Officers
                 Protective Services

From:         T. William Knapp, Executive Director

Date:         March 10, 1997

Subject:     Revised Review Firearms Course Content 
                CHANGE IN REVIEW TRAINING CURRICULUM AND REQUIREMENTS

The Police Officer Standards and Training Council has amended and updated its "REQUIRED REVIEW FIREARMS COURSE CONTENT 8 HOURS MINIMUM" to change the minimum number of hours from 8 to 9 hours and to require that those 9 hours of mandated firearms review training be received by each certified officer in 3-hour periods each year of each review training cycle rather than in one 9-hour period every three years.

The effective date of this change is July 1, 1997. Accordingly, during the time period 7/1/1997 to and including 6/30/1998 each officer will be required to complete a minimum of one (1) classroom hour of review training in the cited areas and each officer will also be required to complete a minimum of two hours of the practical portion of the required course, i.e., actually achieving a qualifying score.

Officers with a certification expiration date of 6/30/98 will need to have performed this new course content at least once in the time period 7/1/97 through 6/30/98. Officers with a certification expiration date of 6/30/99 will need to have performed this new course content at least once in the time period 7/1/97 through 6/30/98 and at least once in the time period 7/1/98 through 6/30/99; officers with a certification expiration date of 6/30/2000 will need to have performed this new course content at least once in the time period 7/1/97 through 6/30/98, at least once in the time period 7/1/98 through 6/30/99 and at least once in the time period 7/1/99 through 6/30/2000.