{"data":{"id":"us-nc/n.c.-gen.-stat.-17e-4","jurisdiction":"us-nc","citation":"N.C. Gen. Stat. § 17E-4","heading":"Powers and duties of the Commission.","body":"(a)\tThe Commission shall have the following powers, duties, and responsibilities, which are enforceable through its rules and regulations, certification procedures, or the provisions of G.S. 17E-8 and G.S. 17E-9:\n(1)\tPromulgate rules and regulations for the administration of this Chapter, which rules may require (i) the submission by any agency of information with respect to the employment, education, and training of its justice officers, and (ii) the submission by any training school of information with respect to its programs that are required by this Chapter.\n(2)\tEstablish minimum educational and training standards that may be met in order to qualify for entry level employment as an officer in temporary or probationary status or in a permanent position. The standards for entry level employment of officers shall include all of the following:\na.\tTraining in response to, and investigation of, domestic violence cases, as well as training in investigation for evidence-based prosecutions. For purposes of the domestic violence training requirement, the term \"officers\" shall include justice officers as defined in G.S. 17E-2(3)a., except that the term shall not include \"special deputy sheriffs\" as defined in G.S. 17E-2(3)a.\nb.\tTraining on juvenile justice issues, including (i) the handling and processing of juvenile matters for referrals, diversion, arrests, and detention; (ii) best practices for handling incidents involving juveniles; (iii) adolescent development and psychology; and (iv) promoting relationship building with youth as a key to delinquency prevention.\nc.\tEducation and training to develop knowledge and increase awareness of effective mental health and wellness strategies for justice officers.\n(3)\tCertify, recertify, suspend, revoke, or deny, pursuant to the standards that it may establish for the purpose, persons as qualified under the provisions of this Chapter who may be employed at entry level as officers.\n(4)\tEstablish minimum standards for the certification of training schools and programs or courses of instruction that are required by this Chapter.\n(5)\tCertify, recertify, suspend, revoke, or deny, pursuant to the standards that it has established for the purpose, training schools and programs or courses of instruction that are required by this Chapter.\n(6)\tEstablish standards and levels of education or equivalent experience for criminal justice school instructors, including instructors with probationary or limited teaching privileges, qualified assistants, in-service training coordinators, executive officers, and school directors, who participate in programs or courses of instruction that are required by this Chapter.\n(7)\tCertify, recertify, suspend, revoke, or deny, pursuant to the standards that it has established for the purpose, criminal justice school instructors, including instructors with probationary or limited teaching privileges, qualified assistants, in-service training coordinators, executive officers, and school directors, who participate in programs or courses of instruction that are required by this Chapter or are required and approved by the instructor's agency, including programs or courses of instruction certified under Chapter 17C of the General Statutes or offered by an educational institution accredited by the Commission.\n(8)\tInvestigate and make such evaluations as may be necessary to determine if agencies, criminal justice school instructors, including instructors with probationary or limited teaching privileges, qualified assistants, in-service training coordinators, executive officers, and school directors, are complying with the provision[s] of this Chapter.\n(9)\tAdopt and amend bylaws, consistent with law, for its internal management and control.\n(10)\tEnter into contracts incident to the administration of its authority pursuant to this Chapter.\n(11)\tEstablish minimum standards for in-service training for justice officers. In-service training standards for sworn law enforcement officers shall include all of the following training topics:\na.\tResponse to, and investigation of, domestic violence cases, as well as training in investigation for evidence-based prosecutions. For purposes of the domestic violence training requirement, the term \"justice officer\" shall include those defined in G.S. 17E-2(3)a., except that the term shall not include \"special deputy sheriffs\" as defined in G.S. 17E-2(3)a.\nb.\tJuvenile justice issues, including (i) the handling and processing of juvenile matters for referrals, diversion, arrests, and detention; (ii) best practices for handling incidents involving juveniles; (iii) adolescent development and psychology; and (iv) promoting relationship building with youth as a key to delinquency prevention.\nc.\tTraining to develop knowledge and increase awareness of effective mental health and wellness strategies for justice officers. The standards established shall include two hours of training on this issue every three years.\nd.\tEthics.\ne.\tMental health for justice officers.\nf.\tCommunity policing.\ng.\tMinority sensitivity.\nh.\tUse of force.\ni.\tThe duty to intervene and report.\n(12)\tEstablish minimum standards and levels of training for certification of instructors for the domestic violence training and juvenile justice training required by subdivisions (2) and (11) of this subsection.\n(13)\tEstablish minimum educational and training standards for employment and continuing education for officers concerning:\na.\tRecognizing and appropriately interacting with persons who are deaf or hard of hearing.\nb.\tDrivers license and vehicle registration identifiers of persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, as authorized by G.S. 20-7(q2), including that those identifiers are optional.\n(14)\tMonitor compliance with G.S. 143B-1710(d).\n(15)\tEstablish minimum standards and levels of training for certification of diversion investigators and diversion supervisors, as defined in G.S. 90-113.74(i). As part of these minimum standards, the Commission shall require that certified diversion investigators receive training in the following:\na.\tDefinition of drug diversion.\nb.\tCategories of drugs most subject to diversion and misuse.\nc.\tMethods used to divert drugs.\nd.\tProper investigation of drug diversion cases.\ne.\tAppropriate use of the controlled substances reporting system to investigate drug diversion cases.\nf.\tRequests of prescriptions and records related to prescriptions pursuant to G.S. 90-107.1, including best practices for working with pharmacies in a manner that minimizes disruption of customer service and pharmacy operations.\ng.\tData privacy and security provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and other pertinent federal and State laws governing privacy and security of confidential data and records.\nh.\tProper handling of confidential data and records from any source.\ni.\tCriminal and civil penalties under federal and State law for improperly accessing, handling, or disclosing confidential prescription data or other confidential data or records.\n(16)\tCertify and recertify at least once every three years, suspend, revoke, or deny, pursuant to the standards that it has established for the purpose, persons as qualified to be employed at entry level and retained as diversion investigators and diversion supervisors, as defined in G.S. 90-113.74(i).\n(17)\tSearch the National Decertification Index (NDI) maintained by the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST) using the name of every applicant for certification or applicant for lateral transfer, and any other personal identifying information necessary to complete the search, and shall utilize any record of conviction of a criminal offense received as a result of the search during the application and lateral transfer process to determine if the applicant has any record that would disqualify the applicant for certification.\n(18)\tEstablish initial and in-service educational and training standards for school resource officers, as set forth in G.S. 115C-105.58.\nThe Commission may certify, and no additional certification shall be required from it, programs, courses and teachers certified by the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission. Where the Commission determines that a program, course, instructor or teacher is required for an area which is unique to the office of sheriff, the Commission may certify such program, course, instructor, or teacher under such standards and procedures as it may establish.\n(b)\t[Recodified as G.S. 17E-4.1.] (1983, c. 558, s. 1; 1991, c. 265, s. 2; 1995, c. 103, ss. 4, 5; 2004-186, ss. 2.7, 2.9, 2.10, 2.12; 2017-57, s. 16D.4(cc); 2017-191, s. 3; 2018-5, s. 35.25(e); 2018-44, s. 14(b); 2018-142, s. 23(b); 2021-107, s. 3(a), (c); 2021-136, s. 1(b); 2021-137, s. 2(b); 2021-138, ss. 7(b), 11(b), 15(b); 2023-56, s. 2; 2024-1, s. 2.8A(b); 2024-57, s. 3E.2(b).)","path":["Chapter 17E. North Carolina Sheriffs' Education and Training Standards Commission.","Article 1. General."],"source_url":"https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_17E/GS_17E-4.html","current_through":"S.L. 2026-30","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-27T17:57:27Z","sha256":"81f8a8c3e0a0f1437cda9bb759177da5bfc6b866fb2bcb1bf12a4187aa3b70e3","source_id":"us-nc","stale":false,"prev":"us-nc/n.c.-gen.-stat.-17e-3","next":"us-nc/n.c.-gen.-stat.-17e-4.1"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}