OAR 259-008-0100: Miscellaneous Activities of the Board or Department

(1) The Board or Department may make or encourage studies of any aspect of corrections, parole and probation, telecommunications, regulatory specialist, emergency medical dispatch, fire, or police administration, including the stimulation of research by public and private agencies which shall be designed to improve the Criminal Justice System. (2) The Board or Department may cooperate and consult with counties, municipalities, agencies of this State, other governmental agencies, and with universities, colleges, community colleges, and other institutions concerning the development of criminal justice training schools and programs or courses of instruction. (3) The Board or Department may cooperate and consult with official bodies or individuals charged by law with the responsibility for corrections, parole and probation, regulatory specialist, telecommunications, emergency medical dispatch, fire or police selection and training standards in other states. (4) The Board or Department may periodically publish or recommend that other governmental agencies publish curricula, manuals, lesson plans, brochures, newsletters, and other materials to aid departments in achieving the objectives of the Act. (5) The Department may direct, operate, or sponsor training schools and set reasonable rules and regulations for the operation and use by trainees. (6) Recognition of Career Service. The Department may provide a recognition of service award for a certified public safety officer who has separated from their employing agency. The recognition of service award recognizes the public safety officer for their years of service to the state of Oregon as a certifiable public safety officer. (a) The following requirements must be met in order for a public safety officer to be eligible for a recognition of service award: (A) The employing agency must notify the Department of the public safety officer’s separation from certifiable employment in accordance with OAR 259-008-0020. (B) The employing agency must submit a request for a recognition of service award through a Department approved submission process. The request must be submitted by the certified public safety officer’s last employing agency within one year following the public safety officer’s separation from certifiable employment. (C) The public safety officer must have completed a minimum of 20 years of employment in a certifiable position as a public safety officer in Oregon, or if the public safety officer sustained a permanent disability that prevents them from returning to their certifiable position, must have completed a minimum of five years of certifiable employment as a full-time public safety officer in Oregon. Years of certifiable employment are calculated using the parameters for certifiable experience and employment outlined in OAR 259-008-0060 and must be met before or on the effective date of the separation. (b) A public safety officer whose separation from certifiable employment results in, or occurs during, a Department review pursuant to OAR 259-008-0300 is ineligible to receive a recognition of service award until a final determination has been made regarding their certification as a public safety officer. If the final determination results in denial, suspension or revocation of certification, the public safety officer will be ineligible to receive a recognition of service award. (c) The Department will only provide one recognition of service award to a qualifying public safety officer. A public safety officer who has been issued a recognition of service award is not eligible to receive additional recognition of service awards from the Department for subsequent periods of service. (d) The contents of a recognition of service award are determined by the Department. (e) The provisions for a recognition of service award replace the prior provisions for the issuance of a retirement card and apply to requests for a recognition of service award received by the Department after May 1, 2018 . The Department will not provide a recognition of service award to a public safety officer who has previously been issued a retirement card.