How can a retired cop qualify in PA, to meet federal law

[Montell C. Williams]

I retired from a NJ police dept 11 years ago and a couple years ago a federal law was passed allowing retired cops to carry nation wide-- the peoblem is a section of that law requires that you get a certification from the state you currently live in that you have qualified to the same level a an active duty officer in that state. I don't know how to get such a certification from PA where I now live.
I do have a PA license to carry but that required no qualifcation at all, let alone to active duty standards which I think would require some training in PA law.

[danp]

I wish I knew the answer to this off the top of my head, but I don't. I did however send this thread to one of our board LEOs who has mentioned in the past that he carries under that law so hopefully he'll be able to answer your question and educate us all

[Steve in PA]

The quick answer to your question is to contact the police dept that covers the area where you live and see if they will qualify you. This qualification can either be done when the dept qualifies (which means you have to wait) or and arrangement can be made with the depts firearm instructor and a date can be set up to qualify you.

The idea of HR218 is so new that many depts don't know what to do with it. I think alot of the higher ups are worried about liability issues, even though no liability would befall the dept that qualifies you. All they are doing is certifying that you passed a qualification course.

It is up to the retired officer to make sure he knows the laws about carrying, shooting in sellf-defense, etc. Nothing in HR218 requires them to qualify you, actually nothing in HR218 even says they have to qualify their own retired officers.

These are the requirements for "firearms qualification" as posted by MPOETC (the governing body for police in PA);

Firearms Requirements
by Mr. Rudy M. Grubesky, Commission Staff

As required by 37 Pa. Code §203.12 (3) (i) and §203.52 (b) (1) (i), the Municipal Police Officers' Education and Training Commission is hereby publishing police firearms course requirements:

The handgun course of fire for the police firearms course that all Waiver of training applicants must successfully complete with a minimum score of 75% and all police officers must successfully complete annually in order to satisfy mandatory in-service re-certification requirements will meet the following minimum standards:

A handgun course of fire must be considered a generally accepted police qualification course consisting of at least fifty (50) rounds of duty ammunition. A minimum of ten (10%) percent of the rounds must be fired at a distance of 25 yards or greater.

The course shall include stages to determine the applicant's or officers' overall proficiency; including, but not limited to marksmanship, safety, weapon operating procedures or tactical skills (i.e., use of cover, tactical reloading), with the weapon s/he will use in the performance of their duties. Requirements for distances of firing positions are: Stages no closer than one (1) yard and at least one stage of fire from the twenty-five (25) yard line or greater distance.

Results for waiver applicants shall be reported to the Commission on the Waiver application form [SP-8 300 (9/2004)] by providing all of the information specified in Block 18. Results of the annual qualification as required by the Mandatory In-Service Training Program shall be reported on a computer print-out supplied by the Commission biennially, indicating if an officer has qualified on a Yes/No basis.

Qualification for other firearms, shotguns or rifles must be successfully completed on a generally accepted law enforcement qualification course for those weapons. The Commission has established that the minimum number of duty rounds used for qualification for these types of weapons is ten (10) rounds. Passing shall be determined by the agency.

All firearms training and qualification must be conducted by a certified police firearms instructor. The term, certified, should not be interpreted to mean that the Commission's Municipal Police Instructor (MPI) number is needed to be considered certified. The police department's instructor can use a certification from the weapon manufacturer that provided his/her firearms instructor training or a firearms instructor certification from an agency that conducts bonafide police/law enforcement firearms instructor development courses.

Chiefs of Police and firearms instructors are reminded that continuous in-service requirements still include annual qualification on a police firearms course with any firearms, shotguns, rifles authorized for use including personal weapons carried in lieu of issued weapons or as a second weapon. A weapon may not be carried on duty or readily available for duty use for which an officer is not qualified.

Questions concerning this article may be directed to Mr. Rudy M. Grubesky at (717) 346-7756.

[96D]

could you go to a Act 235 class & just take the range part of it???

[Steve in PA]

Nope, Act 235 does not allow the person to carry other than while working or going to and from work. They also do not have statuatory powers of arrest.

[Mtbkski]

Does this include EX-LEO's who may have just moved on, or just retired LEO's. How many years do you have to have worked to officially have retired. I haven't heard about this.

[Steve in PA]

From HR218;

(c) As used in this section, the term `qualified retired law enforcement officer' means an individual who--
(1) retired in good standing from service with a public agency as a law enforcement officer, other than for reasons of mental instability;
(2) before such retirement, was authorized by law to engage in or supervise the prevention, detection, investigation, or prosecution of, or the incarceration of any person for, any violation of law, and had statutory powers of arrest;
(3) (A) before such retirement, was regularly employed as a law enforcement officer for an aggregate of 15 years or more; or
(B) retired from service with such agency, after completing any
applicable probationary period of such service, due to a
service-connected disability, as determined by such agency;
(4) has a nonforfeitable right to benefits under the retirement plan of the agency;
(5) during the most recent 12-month period, has met, at the expense of the individual, the State's standards for training and qualification for active law enforcement officers to carry firearms;
(6) is not under the influence of alcohol or another intoxicating or hallucinatory drug or substance; and
(7) is not prohibited by Federal law from receiving a firearm.