(1) To be eligible for the award of a certificate, each officer must be a full-time or part-time public safety officer as defined by 44-4-401, MCA, at the time the application for certification is received by the council.

(2) Public safety officers must complete the required basic training as set by the council and Montana law.

(3) All public safety officers must abide by the code of ethics as prescribed in ARM 23.13.803. Acceptance of POST certification is an agreement to abide by and adopt the code of ethics and refrain from the behaviors outlined in ARM 23.13.702.

(4) Prior to issuance of any certificate, the public safety officer must have completed the designated combinations of education, training, and experience as established by the council.

(5) To maintain certification the officer must:

(a) abide by all laws and rules of Montana, including those set forth herein;

(b) maintain ethical conduct by upholding and abiding by the code of ethics set forth in ARM 23.13.803 and refrain from engaging in any behavior that constitutes a ground for denial, sanction, suspension, or revocation under ARM 23.13.702;

(c) maintain the continuing education and training requirements set forth by the council and ARM 23.13.801.

(6) Training hour guidelines are as follows:

(a) no training hours for the basic courses or legal equivalency courses may be applied to any other certificate; and

(b) acceptability of training hours claimed for training received from noncriminal justice sponsored agencies will be determined by the council and requires an application for credit.

(7) No more than 15% of the required training hours will be allowed from in-service training. An officer who wishes to use in-service training hours when applying for intermediate or advanced certificates must submit documentation of in-service training hours with the officer's certificate application.

(a) The POST Council is not responsible for maintaining records of the course content supporting regional, online, or in-service training hours acquired to satisfy the requirements of this rule. The appointing authority or the individual officer must maintain records of the course content supporting regional, online, or in-service training hours acquired to satisfy this rule.

(8) Lateral POST training credit hours may be used to qualify for any certificate on an hour-for-hour basis.

(9) Applicable discipline-specific experience in any public safety agency will be considered by the council when determining the minimum standards for certification of each discipline.