Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Errors did not compromise
sheriff testing standardsQuestion: Auwe to the director of the new sheriff class that let six sheriff recruits return to class after being dismissed from class after failing to qualify with their firearms. Did the Sept. 11 tragedy actually make the Department of Public Safety lower their standards to fill sheriff positions? There are a lot more candidates standing in line for the next class. Not only does he jeopardize the recruit who doesn't know how to use his own firearm, but he jeopardizes everyone around him. This is law enforcement. Since when do they let recruits back to class after choking on firearms qualification? HPD doesn't send you back to class. You need to reapply for the next class. Corrections let recruits go if they fail to pass their firearms after three tries. The six who failed the firearms test will get one more chance to qualify.
Answer: Those six actually had two more chances to qualify.
Public safety officials acknowledge procedures and policies were not followed, which allowed for the extra retesting, but they maintain standards were not lowered.
However, because this happened, administrators have reviewed and reemphasized policies and proper procedures within the department. They also are considering requiring sheriffs to take the firearms test twice a year instead of yearly.
Because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, there's been a bigger demand for sheriffs, especially at the airports. Instead of a recruit training class once a year or every other year, there will be four or five this year, said Isaac Sagario, training and staff development administrator for the Department of Public Safety.
The first class spurred by 9/11 was in December, followed by the class in question, which started in January, Sagario said. It was the Eighth Law Enforcement Recruitment Class.
Typically, classes range in size from 15 to 20, he said, but the January class started with 30, although it dropped to 28 after the first week.
Among the requirements of the four-month training class is nine days of firearms training. The standard firearms schedule calls for the first three days to be primarily in "classroom-type theoretical application training," with usually one instructor per four students.
However, during this class, one instructor did not show up, "so it ended up with a ratio of 1 to 9," Sagario said.
Because of that, the lead instructor felt that this larger-than-average class of 28, shortchanged one instructor, should be given an extra day of classroom testing, "so they have a solid understanding of theoretical applications," which involve taking apart, cleaning and putting a weapon back together, he said.
But that one-day classroom extension meant compressing time on the firearms range.
At the end of the firearms training, the policy is to give each recruit three chances to pass, hitting the target at least 42 times out of 48 bullets shot. The first two times recruits fail, they are given remedial training, then allowed to retake the test.
"If standards were followed according to the regular scheduling, where you're not compressing time, if you don't pass the third test, that's it, you're out," Sagario said.
In the eighth recruit class, 17 of 28 failed the first test, which, he said, is "a large number of failures."
On the second test, four passed and 13 failed. Of the 13 who took the third test, only two passed.
At that point, Sagario acknowledged, "if we followed standards, all 11 should have been disqualified."
However, there were questions about the results for one recruit -- there were 58 bullet holes on his target although each recruit is given only 48 rounds, so someone else apparently "was shooting in the wrong place," Sagario explained.
Rather than just having that one recruit be retested, the lead instructor consulted with other instructors and decided to disqualify all 11, allowing all 11 to take the test a fourth time.
Sagario said that, as administrator, he should have been, but was not, informed of any of this. "This was brought to my attention after the fact."
On the fourth try, five passed and six failed. It got messy after that, because the six who failed the fourth time filed an "informal complaint" demanding yet another test, arguing that by allowing a fourth test, officials "already went beyond the standard policy."
Sagario consulted with the department's labor relations and personnel staff and was advised that, because the training time was compressed and looking at the intent of the policy, he should "proceed with one more retesting." After the fifth test, two passed and four failed.
Sagario maintains, "It's not that we lowered the standards, but we felt it was a procedural error."
He met last week with the deputy director of public safety, plus all the firearms instructors for law enforcement to make sure "we are all on the same page" regarding training and the chain of command in decision-making.
Interestingly, in the past, most recruits came from within the Department of Public Safety, mainly adult corrections officers, or were former police officers. But new recruits are tending to be from "the outside."
That could explain why so many had a hard time passing the firearms test, Sagario said, because "they were never exposed to firearms before."
Many, for example, came from the ailing hotel and restaurant industry, and several are college graduates.
Sagario believes this may be the "new breed of law enforcement within the sheriff's arena."
The department is not really looking for any more recruits at this point. The most recent list of 1,500 applicants had been whittled down to a pool of 500.
Before an applicant is even accepted into a recruit training class, they have to meet minimum qualifications, plus a written and physical agility test; a three-person panel interview; go through a background check, including by the FBI; and a "suitability drug test."
On average, all this takes two to three months before applicants even hit the recruit stage.
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