# Oregon

Oregon’s Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) certifies police and other public safety officers and must deny, suspend, or revoke certification for listed crimes and misconduct. Since 2023 the State has tightened background and psychological screening by rule, extended its statewide discipline standards and the limits on arbitrators to corrections, parole and probation, and reserve officers, and in 2026 added immigration status to the profiling ban. Officer certification grounds themselves have not changed since 2021.

Source: https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/oregon

## At a glance

- **Certifying body:** Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST), acting with the Board on Public Safety Standards and Training and its Police Policy Committee. DPSST certifies public safety officers and may deny, suspend, or revoke certification ([ORS 181A.375, 181A.410, 181A.640](https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors181A.html)).
- **Statute:** ORS 181A.355 to 181A.690 (standards, certification, revocation, personnel records in 181A.667, duty to intervene and report in 181A.681); 181A.790 (deadly-force policy); ORS 243.706 and 243.808 to 243.812 (arbitration limits and statewide discipline standards); ORS 131.915 to 131.945 (profiling). Rules: OAR 259-008.
- **Minimum standards:** By rule: U.S. citizenship (or Compact of Free Association status), within 18 months for police officers; age 21; a background investigation; fingerprints within 90 days; arrests reported within 5 business days; moral-fitness standards; education; and a pre-employment psychological evaluation. Since July 1, 2023, the evaluation must assess attitudes toward diverse cultures and groups, and the background investigation must cover memberships and associations and use a standard personal history questionnaire ([OAR 259-008-0010, 259-008-0015](https://secure.sos.state.or.us/oard/displayDivisionRules.action?selectedDivision=822)).
- **Decertification:** Mandatory: DPSST “shall deny, suspend or revoke” a police officer’s certification for felony-level convictions, drug convictions (marijuana excepted), domestic violence, child abuse, sex-offender status, or discharge for cause for listed intentional misconduct, including false arrests or confessions, falsified evidence, excessive force, abuse of authority, and biased policing. It also “shall” act on any discharge for cause ([ORS 181A.640(1), (2), (5)](https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors181A.html)). Discretionary: DPSST “may” act for falsification, any conviction, or failure to meet standards. The rules add mandatory and discretionary moral-fitness grounds (OAR 259-008-0300). The biased-policing ground does not list immigration status, which the profiling definition has included since June 5, 2026.
- **Public decertification list:** None found. No ORS 181A or OAR 259-008 provision requires DPSST to publish a list of revoked officers.
- **National Decertification Index:** None found. Neither ORS ch. 181A nor [OAR division 259-008](https://secure.sos.state.or.us/oard/displayDivisionRules.action?selectedDivision=822) names the Index or IADLEST.
- **Continuing training:** Law enforcement officers have a 3-year maintenance cycle requiring at least 84 hours of agency-approved training, with current CPR and first aid. The 84 hours must include 8 hours of firearms or use-of-force training and 1 hour of ethics each year, and, each cycle, 3 hours of mental health and crisis intervention, 2 hours of airway and circulatory anatomy, 3 hours of equity training, and, for supervisors, 24 hours of leadership training ([OAR 259-008-0065](https://secure.sos.state.or.us/oard/displayDivisionRules.action?selectedDivision=822)).

## Changes, 2023 to 2026

- Jun 5, 2026 — **Immigration status added to the definition of prohibited profiling** — Oregon Laws 2026, ch. 57 (HB 4111), secs. 6 and 7, amending ORS 131.915 and 131.930 · Approved March 31, 2026; effective June 5, 2026 — “Profiling,” which agencies and officers may not engage in and which feeds the profiling-complaint and stop-data systems, now includes targeting based solely on real or perceived immigration status. The act also limits evidence of immigration status in civil cases and adds employment protections. — **For officers:** Targeting someone based solely on perceived immigration status is now prohibited profiling. — [Oregon Laws 2026, ch. 57](https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2026orLaw0057.pdf)
- Jan 1, 2025 — **Arbitration limits on reversing discipline reach corrections, parole and probation, and reserve officers** — Oregon Laws 2024, ch. 63 (SB 1574), secs. 5 to 7, amending ORS 243.706, 243.808, and 243.809 · Approved March 27, 2024; secs. 5 to 7 operative January 1, 2025 — ORS 243.706 (an arbitrator must uphold a misconduct finding consistent with the agency’s, and may not reduce discipline that matches the uniform standards), 243.808 (burden of proof and termination limits), and 243.809 now define “law enforcement agency” and “law enforcement officer” by ORS 243.812 instead of 131.930. That brings in corrections, parole and probation, and reserve officers. 243.706 also gained a definition of a civilian or community oversight body. Most of ch. 63 concerns other subjects. — **For officers:** If you are a corrections, parole and probation, or reserve officer, an arbitrator cannot reduce discipline that matches the statewide standards. — [Oregon Laws 2024, ch. 63](https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2024orLaw0063.pdf)[ORS ch. 243](https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors243.html)
- Jan 1, 2024 — **Statewide discipline standards extended to corrections, parole and probation, and reserve officers** — Oregon Laws 2023, ch. 191 (SB 808), amending ORS 243.812 · Approved June 7, 2023; effective January 1, 2024 — For the Commission on Statewide Law Enforcement Standards of Conduct and Discipline, “law enforcement officer” now means corrections officers, parole and probation officers, police officers, certified reserve officers, and reserve officers as defined in ORS 181A.355. Before, it was defined by reference to ORS 131.930. The superseded October 1, 2022 adoption deadline was removed, and annual reporting was made ongoing. — **For officers:** The statewide conduct and discipline standards now apply to corrections, parole and probation, and reserve officers. — [Oregon Laws 2023, ch. 191](https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2023orLaw0191.pdf)
- Jul 1, 2023 — **Uniform background investigation and wider psychological screening** — DPSST 6-2023 (permanent), amending OAR 259-008-0010, -0011, -0015, and -0080 · Filed April 27, 2023; effective July 1, 2023 — The background-investigation requirement moves into the minimum-standards rule. Pre-employment psychological screening extends from police and reserve officers to corrections, parole and probation officers, and regulatory specialists. The evaluation must assess the applicant’s “tendencies, feelings and opinions toward diverse cultures, races and ethnicities and differing social, political, economic and life statuses.” The rules add a memberships-and-associations investigation category, a checklist, a mandatory standard personal history questionnaire, and review of prior complaints and discipline. — **For officers:** Your background investigation covers your memberships and associations and your prior complaints and discipline. — [DPSST 6-2023 filing](https://secure.sos.state.or.us/oard/viewReceiptTRIM.action?ptId=9427151)[OAR 259-008](https://secure.sos.state.or.us/oard/displayDivisionRules.action?selectedDivision=822)
- Jan 1, 2023 — **Agencies must adopt policies for interacting with people who have experienced trauma** — OAR 259-008-0510 (DPSST 16-2022, adopted), implementing ORS 181A.445 · Filed December 28, 2022; effective January 1, 2023; agency deadline January 1, 2024 — No later than January 1, 2024, a law enforcement agency that employs police officers “must adopt” best practice policies for interacting with persons who have experienced trauma. DPSST, in consultation with the Department of Justice, develops the best practices under the criteria in ORS 181A.445(2) and posts them on its website. — **For officers:** Your agency must have a trauma-informed interaction policy. — [OAR 259-008-0510](https://secure.sos.state.or.us/oard/displayDivisionRules.action?selectedDivision=822)

## Not yet in force and pending

No enacted change in this area awaits its effective date, and no pending DPSST notice on officer certification standards was found. All 304 measures introduced in the 2026 session were screened by caption; none concerned officer masks, identification, certification, or decertification, and HB 4001 (a study of unlawful immigration enforcement) was not enacted.

These bills died: in 2025, HB 2926 (DPSST could keep investigating or denying certification after an officer changes employers; died in a Senate committee), HB 2833 (crowd-control officer identification extended to cities over 5,000), HB 2645 (bar on discipline for Brady-list placement), SB 582 and HB 3718 (no body-camera review before a deadly-force interview), HB 3515, and HB 2831; in 2023, SB 779 (post-secondary education for officers), SB 784 (DPSST board membership), HB 3447 (Brady-list discipline bar), and SB 237 (State Police jurisdiction over officer-involved incidents).

The rules of the Commission on Statewide Law Enforcement Standards of Conduct and Discipline (OAR ch. 265) were not reviewed for 2023–2026 amendments.

## Checked and unchanged

- ORS 181A.640 (grounds), 181A.630, 181A.667 (personnel records), 181A.681 (duty to intervene and report), and 181A.790 (deadly-force policy): no 2023–2026 amendment.
- OAR 259-008-0300 to -0340 (moral fitness and revocation): last amended in 2021. DPSST 2-2026 added suspension authority for private security professionals, not police.
- Oregon Laws 2026, ch. 58 (HB 4114) creates a civil action against individuals who enter property under color of law without a warrant, but excludes anyone suable under 42 U.S.C. 1983, including state and local officers. It does not touch certification.
- Not counted: Oregon Laws 2024, ch. 85 (HB 4122, a general fingerprint retention program) and 2025 chs. 205 and 384 (fire and higher-education references).