Arizona
Arizona’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Board (AZPOST) certifies all peace officers, including deputies. By rule it must revoke certification on a felony conviction and may act on 12 other grounds. Since 2023 the State has shortened the marijuana and juvenile-conduct look-backs for applicants, created a certification path for military police veterans that starts in 2027, and added procedural protections for officers in discipline cases.
- Sources checked
At a glance
- Certifying body
- Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board (AZPOST). Its 13 members are appointed by the governor. They include sheriffs, police chiefs, the Attorney General, the DPS and ADCRR directors, a county or municipal jail administrator, two non-supervisory officers, and two public members (A.R.S. 41-1821). Deputies are certified by AZPOST like other peace officers; there is no separate sheriffs’ board. For state corrections officers, AZPOST approves training and issues certificates of completion only.
- Statute
- A.R.S. 41-1821 to 41-1828.02 (Title 41, Ch. 12, Art. 8): AZPOST powers, certification, and the training fund (A.R.S. 41-1822). The Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights is A.R.S. 38-1101 to 38-1121. It covers discipline and appeals, the Rule 15.1 (Brady) database at 38-1119, and use-of-force data at 38-1118. Rules are in A.A.C. R13-4-101 to R13-4-208 (Supp. 25-1), last amended at 31 A.A.R. 924.
- Minimum standards
- By statute, the Board’s qualifications “shall require United States citizenship” and relate to physical, mental, and moral fitness. No one may act as a peace officer without AZPOST certification, except elected agency heads and some others. A new qualification takes effect 6 months after it is filed (A.R.S. 41-1823). The rule list is in R13-4-105: U.S. citizen; age 21 (a person may attend the academy if 21 by graduation); high school diploma, GED, or equivalent; a background investigation and polygraph; a medical exam within 1 year; no felony; no dishonorable discharge; and no denial, revocation, or surrender in lieu of discipline elsewhere for conduct listed in R13-4-109(A). Drug look-backs are 6 months for marijuana and 7 years for dangerous drugs or narcotics. A traffic-record standard and a signed code of ethics also apply. An agency head may petition for an exception for drug use or juvenile conduct.
- Decertification
- By statute the Board “may” deny, suspend, revoke, or cancel certification of an officer who does not meet the qualifications (A.R.S. 41-1822(F)). By rule the Board “shall revoke” on receiving a certified copy of a felony conviction, and “shall cancel” if the officer was not qualified when certified. It may act on 12 listed grounds, including false statements, dishonesty, malfeasance, and conduct that jeopardizes public trust (R13-4-109). Agency action, or the result of an appeal, does not bar Board action. The Board may take misconduct complaints from anyone. If a recognized law enforcement association complains and the Board finds that an agency refused to investigate or made findings contrary to prima facie evidence, the Board “shall” investigate on its own (A.R.S. 41-1822(E)).
- Public decertification list
- No statutory list found. AZPOST publishes quarterly Integrity Bulletins that summarize Board revocations and suspensions by case number, without officer names. Certification records are available by public-records request. Use-of-force data are published as statewide and agency-specific data, without officer identifiers (A.R.S. 38-1118).
- National Decertification Index
- None found. No A.R.S. section, A.A.C. R13-4 rule, or AZPOST page found names the Index.
- Continuing training
- Full-authority and specialty officers “shall complete 12 hours of training each year,” starting January 1 after certification. Officers who carry a firearm must also pass a yearly firearms qualification and a target identification and judgment course (R13-4-111). The Board “shall restrict” certified status for missing either. A restricted officer may not carry a firearm, make arrests, or perform enforcement duties until the deficiency is cured (R13-4-109.01).
Changes, 2023 to 2026
Employer pays an officer’s fees when a firing is twice found without just cause and the officer is not reinstated
New A.R.S. 38-1106(J) applies when two things happen. A hearing officer, administrative law judge, or appeals board finds a termination was without just cause and the employer does not reinstate the officer. Then a superior court action under 38-1107 also finds no just cause. The employer “shall pay” the officer’s taxable costs, reasonable attorney fees, and expert fees for both appeals. The act also reletters the section and adds a cross-reference to the 38-1119 definition of the Rule 15.1 database. The duty to send the final disposition to a prosecutor for that database already existed.
For officers: If you win twice on a wrongful termination and are not reinstated, your employer pays your fees.
No retaliation or obstruction against employees who testify in discipline appeals
An agency, employer, or political subdivision “may not” retaliate against an employee for testifying in an in-camera disclosure proceeding under 38-1106(E). It also “may not prohibit or obstruct” an employee, including a designated subject matter expert, from testifying in an administrative or court proceeding on a disciplinary appeal (now 38-1106(Q)). Other edits are wording only.
For officers: Coworkers can testify in your discipline appeal without being blocked by the agency.
Military Police to Peace Officer Pathway Act: an alternative route for military police veterans, starting 2027
New A.R.S. 41-1822(A)(8): “beginning January 1, 2027” the Board “shall” set up an alternative certification pathway for honorably discharged veterans who served as military police. The pathway must accept existing military police training and experience toward AZPOST requirements, allow a shorter AZPOST program on Arizona law, procedures, and community policing, and require passing the Board’s certification exam. Applicants must still meet all moral character, medical, psychological, and background requirements. The Board “shall” process complete applications within 60 days. Former subsections (B) to (F) were relettered (D) to (H). The pathway is not yet available on October 19, 2026.
For officers: If you served as military police, a shorter route to AZPOST certification opens in 2027; background and fitness standards stay the same.
Investigation materials due at least 24 hours before an administrative interview
The employer already had to give relevant, readily available materials, including complaints, with the written notice of an interview. Now it “shall” give them “at least twenty-four hours before the interview.” There are three exceptions: the officer waives it; the employer decides an earlier interview is needed to protect the integrity of the officer’s statement; or circumstances “require the interview to be completed twenty-four hours after a major law enforcement incident.”
For officers: Expect the complaint and related materials a day before your interview, unless an exception applies.
Promoted officers who fail probation can be demoted, not fired
New 38-1104(E): an employer “may not” terminate an officer who is promoted above their current rank and placed on probation for failing that probation, but “may” demote them. An employer may still terminate any officer with just cause. The section does not apply to recruits promoted to officer after the academy. Lateral transfers on initial probation “may” be terminated for failing it.
For officers: Failing a promotional probation now costs the promotion, not the job.
Shorter look-backs for past marijuana use and juvenile conduct; certification exam split into sections
These rules take effect 6 months after filing, as A.R.S. 41-1823(A) requires. In R13-4-105 the marijuana look-back drops from “the past two years” to “the past six months.” For a juvenile-indiscretion petition, the conduct must now have occurred more than 5 years before application, down from 10. The 7-year look-back for dangerous drugs and narcotics is unchanged. Medical exams no longer have to be done by a “Board-trained physician.” The comprehensive exam is now given in sections; a failed section may be retaken once within 7 days; before, a failed block could be retaken once before graduation and a second time within 60 days. The 12-hour annual training rule in R13-4-111 is not new. The amendment adds that the Board may reject a training course, and allows frangible or practice ammunition for firearms qualification.
For officers: Applicants with older marijuana use or juvenile conduct may now qualify where they could not before.
Other AZPOST rule changes: active-assailant training, termination reports
The rest of the same rulemaking took effect earlier. Active-assailant response is added to the basic academy curriculum, and “scenario” training is defined as immersive training. A termination report is still due to the Board within 15 days. The agency must now send a detailed description and supporting documents only when it determines the termination was for cause. Before, it had to describe any cause that existed for suspension or revocation. Other text in these sections was not compared in full.
For officers: If you are terminated for cause, your agency sends the Board its documentation within 15 days.
State officer appeals: discipline can be reduced even when just cause is proven
This covers full-authority certified officers in the state personnel system, such as DPS. In appeals of dismissal, suspension over 40 hours, or demotion, the Law Enforcement Merit System Council could recommend changing the discipline only when just cause was not proven. Now it “may” also recommend a change when just cause was proven but the evidence or other facts show the action “should be modified.” The agency head “shall” accept a recommendation unless it is arbitrary or without reasonable justification.
For officers: If you work for a state agency, you can ask the Council to reduce discipline even if the charge is upheld.
Hiring agency repays training costs when it hires away a newly certified officer
An agency that paid an officer’s certification and training costs “may seek” repayment from the agency that hires the officer after the officer leaves voluntarily. The hiring agency “shall” repay on a sliding scale: 100% within 12 months, 75% from 12 to 24 months, and 50% from 24 to 36 months. The original agency may waive repayment, and hardship is a presumptive reason to waive. The hiring agency “may not” make the officer repay, and may not weigh the cost when deciding whom to hire. The section does not apply if the officer spent 1 year or more out of employment as a certified peace officer before the new hire.
For officers: A lateral move in your first 3 years cannot be charged to you.
Local agencies may charge for copies of police video
A county, city, town, or other political subdivision “may” set a one-time fee for a copy of a video recording requested from a local law enforcement agency, “not to exceed $46 per video-hour reviewed.” It may consider the cost of reviewing, copying, and redacting. The fee is permissive. The same act gives crime victims free police reports and video under 13-4405 and 39-127.
For officers: Public requests for footage of your encounters may now come with a fee.
Not yet in force and pending
- Military Police to Peace Officer Pathway, January 1, 2027: the statute is in force, but the Board’s duty to run the pathway begins January 1, 2027 (see above). A.R.S. 41-1822
Only chaptered acts were reviewed. Vetoed bills and pending AZPOST rulemakings could not be checked from official sources on October 19, 2026.
Checked and unchanged
- A.R.S. 41-1821 (the Board) and 41-1823 (certification required): no 2023–2026 act amends them.
- A.R.S. 38-1119 (the Rule 15.1 database: notice, reconsideration, and a bar on using placement as the only reason for discipline): not amended from 2023 to 2026. The 2026 acts only cross-reference it. AZPOST states that it does not keep a Brady list.
- A.R.S. 38-1118 (use-of-force data, published without officer identifiers): no 2023–2026 amendment.
- No Arizona statute on a duty to intervene, officer masks, or officer identification was enacted from 2023 to 2026.
- Not counted: 2024 Ch. 56 and 2025 Ch. 37 (free police reports and video for victims); 2024 Ch. 185 (mutual aid); 2026 Ch. 173 (confidentiality of agency wellness programs); and 2026 Ch. 64 (a “first responder” definition).
Last updated October 19, 2026Source: United States Council for Law & InvestigationCite as: United States Council for Law & Investigation, “Arizona officer certification: Officer Certification Tracker,” uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/arizona (last updated October 19, 2026). Text licensed CC BY 4.0.