NEW REGISTRY WILL IDENTIFY DECERTIFIED POLICE OFFICERS

WASHINGTON -- A national registry of more than 7,000 police officers
who have been stripped of their law enforcement licenses is being
readied for use by police agencies throughout the USA to identify
officers with troubled histories.

The registry, which for the first time would give police agencies
direct access to a list of decertified officers, is designed to help
avoid hiring officers ousted from jobs elsewhere.

So far, 20 states are contributing to a computer database being
assembled by the International Association of Directors of Law
Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST). The database could be
ready this fall.

Although there have been no national studies on how often disciplined
or decertified officers have found work at other departments, the
database reflects rising concerns about the quality of police recruits.

In Florida, the Broward County Sheriff's Department faces questions
about its hiring practices in a lawsuit involving Sheriff's Deputy
Lewis Perry. Perry had left two police jobs in Connecticut after
conduct complaints were filed against him, court documents show.

He was fired from a third Connecticut agency while under
investigation for allegedly stalking a girlfriend, court papers say.
In Broward, Perry has been suspended without pay because he faces
allegations of misconduct and perjury. A grand jury also is reviewing
his conduct in a 2004 shooting. Perry's attorney, Eric Schwartzreich,
says he has not reviewed the Connecticut evidence, but he notes that
Perry's certification hasn't been revoked.

The new database will flag only officers who have been decertified by
state accreditation agencies. While more states may sign on, records
for thousands more ousted officers are under the control of state
accreditation agencies that have chosen not to share the information
or are prohibited by law from sharing it. Police agencies in all
states would be permitted to use the database.

Project director Ray Franklin says incidents of misconduct that don't
result in decertification could be added as the database expands.

Police officers typically are licensed by state agencies when the
officers graduate from law enforcement academies. Officers remain
accredited as long as they meet job standards. When they violate such
standards, the loss of their law enforcement accreditation is
supposed to prevent them from working as officers elsewhere. However,
police departments -- particularly those in different states --
historically have not shared such information.

In the past three decades, more than 19,000 officers have been
stripped of licenses for misconduct, according to a 2005 IADLEST survey.

"Some people view this as kind of like a blacklist," Franklin says.
"It's really not. It's more like a pointer system, a reference for
public safety agencies."