A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to require mandatory specialized training in de‑escalation techniques for all law ENFORCEMENT officers in order to promote peaceful interactions between law enforcement and private citizens.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 17C‑6(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	In addition to powers conferred upon the Commission elsewhere in this Chapter, the Commission shall have the following powers, which shall be enforceable through its rules and regulations, certification procedures, or the provisions of G.S. 17C‑10:
(1)	Promulgate rules and regulations for the administration of this Chapter, which rules may require (i) the submission by any criminal justice agency of information with respect to the employment, education, retention, and training of its criminal justice officers, and (ii) the submission by any criminal justice training school of information with respect to its criminal justice training programs that are required by this Chapter.
(2)	Establish minimum educational and training standards that must be met in order to qualify for entry level employment and retention as a criminal justice officer in temporary or probationary status or in a permanent position. The standards for entry level employment shall include education and training in response to, and investigation of, domestic violence cases, crisis intervention training, de‑escalation training, as well as training in investigation for evidence‑based prosecutions. For the purposes of this section, crisis intervention training is designed to help officers interact with people suffering with mental illness and successfully de‑escalate crisis situations. For the purposes of this section, de‑escalation training is specialized training in various techniques to diffuse a potentially dangerous or threatening situation in efforts to prevent harm to a citizen or an officer and achieve a successful outcome.
…."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 17E‑4(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	The 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:
(1)	Promulgate 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;
(2)	Establish 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 training in response to, and investigation of, domestic violence cases, crisis intervention training, de‑escalation training, 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. For the purposes of this section, crisis intervention training is designed to help officers interact with people suffering with mental illness and successfully de‑escalate crisis situations. For the purposes of this section, de‑escalation training is specialized training in various techniques to diffuse a potentially dangerous or threatening situation in efforts to prevent harm to a citizen or an officer and achieve a successful outcome.
…."
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective October 1, 2017.