eligibility; penalties for failure to complete or report requirements.

A. To maintain certification as a police officer, in-service law enforcement training is required. In-service law enforcement training consists of a minimum of forty hours of academic instruction approved by the council for each certified police officer during each twenty-four month period of employment or service with a state or local law enforcement agency. The first required in-service law enforcement training period shall commence no later than twelve months after graduation from an approved basic law enforcement training program.

B. Each certified police officer shall provide proof of completing in-service law enforcement training requirements to the officer’s law enforcement agency and the executive director no later than March 1 of the year in which the requirements must be met. The executive director shall provide annual notice to all certified police officers regarding in-service law enforcement training requirements. Failure to complete in- service law enforcement training requirements or failure to report completion to the board may be grounds for suspension of a police officer’s certification and may result in the state withholding the law enforcement agency’s law enforcement protection fund distribution. A police officer’s certification may be reinstated by the board when the police officer presents the board with evidence of satisfying in-service law enforcement training requirements.

C. The board shall audit in-service law enforcement training compliance.