Designated incident command certification is established for the purpose of promoting standardized incident management and streamlined interagency mutual aid during multi-day or multijurisdictional emergencies through the use of the incident command system (ICS) .

(1) The POST advisory council shall issue incident command certificates designated by:

(a) emergency response specialty; and

(b) area of expertise denoted as any of the ICS command staff positions or any of the general staff positions of planning, logistics or finance.

(2) In addition to ARM 23.14.403 and 23.14.404 above, the following are required for the award of a designated incident command certificate:

(a) shall possess the intermediate certificate; and

(b) shall have completed the incident command system course at the Montana law enforcement academy or equivalent; and

(c) shall have completed at least 16 hours of additional training and testing for the command or general staff position for which certification is being sought; and

(d) shall be trained and competent within a specialized area of emergency response in accordance with standards established by the POST advisory council; and

(e) shall have successfully served in a command or general staff capacity as attested to on an application by the applicant's agency administrator; and

(f) shall be eligible to respond as overhead support for mutual aid requests outside of the applicant's jurisdiction as attested to on an application by the applicant's agency administrator.

(3) An officer assigned to an ICS command or general staff position is usually a senior officer, trained within a specific area of expertise, who is routinely assigned within a jurisdiction to coordinate or take charge of specific aspects of emergency response or extraordinary circumstances.