# Wyoming

Wyoming’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission certifies peace, detention, dispatch, and corrections officers, and a felony conviction after appointment automatically revokes certification. Since 2023 the State has required agencies to give POST complaint-related personnel records within 30 days of a request, and has let custodians withhold records of the corrections investigation unit as investigatory records. No public list of decertified officers was found. POST rule content on this page was checked against the current rules on the Secretary of State’s Wyoming Administrative Rules system.

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

## At a glance

- **Certifying body:** Wyoming Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission: the attorney general and six members appointed by the governor. It certifies peace officers, detention officers, dispatchers, and Department of Corrections correctional officers, and it grants, suspends, and revokes certification ([W.S. 9-1-702, 9-1-703](https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title09.pdf)).
- **Statute:** W.S. 9-1-701 to 9-1-711 ([Title 9](https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title09.pdf)). Rules: POST Commission rules, chapters 1 to 5, 7 to 11, and 14 (chapter 6 is repealed) ([Wyoming Administrative Rules](https://rules.wyo.gov/Search.aspx?mode=7)).
- **Minimum standards:** By statute, a peace officer must be a U.S. citizen and an adult, with no conviction for a crime punishable by imprisonment in a federal or state prison. Other requirements are fingerprint searches; a high school diploma or equivalent; good moral character, shown by a hiring-agency background investigation completed before employment or training; physical, emotional, and mental fitness evaluated by a physician and a psychologist or psychiatrist; and an oral interview. A peace officer must complete basic training and be certified within one year, or two years for part-time and reserve officers (W.S. 9-1-704(b)–(f)). By POST rule, the background investigation must check Wyoming POST files and other states’ certification files, and anyone previously decertified in Wyoming or another state is disqualified (POST Rules ch. 2 sec. 1(a)(vi), (b)).
- **Decertification:** By statute, the commission grants, suspends, or revokes certification for “substantial failure to comply” with the act or its rules, through contested-case procedure (W.S. 9-1-702(f)(v)). A felony conviction after appointment automatically revokes certification (9-1-704(h)). Agencies must notify the commission within 15 days of an officer’s appointment, termination, resignation, or death (9-1-704(a)). Agencies must report terminations with detailed reasons, and potential employers may obtain that information from the commission (9-1-704(j)). By POST rule, the commission “shall” deny, suspend, or revoke for a felony, a court order, or unlawful drug use, and “may” revoke for falsification, disqualifying conditions, alcohol misuse or DUI, a criminal offense, rule violations, and conduct that undermines public confidence, including sexual harassment, discrimination, and false reports (POST Rules ch. 8 secs. 1 and 2).
- **Public decertification list:** None found. No statute requires one, and none was found in the POST rules or on the [POST website](https://post.wyo.gov/). Commission minutes are linked from the POST site.
- **National Decertification Index:** None found. W.S. 9-1-701 to 9-1-711 do not name the Index, and it was not found in the POST rules.
- **Continuing training:** By POST rule, basic certification is valid for two years. Officers must earn advanced certification within two years of basic certification, or recertification is denied; this takes 1 more year of experience and 80 more hours of training, and officers who routinely make arrests must take 10 of those hours in perishable skills such as use of force, firearms, and crisis intervention. Holders of professional certification must complete 40 hours every two years, including 10 perishable-skills hours. Reserves need 20 hours every two years (POST Rules ch. 3 secs. 2 to 5).

## Changes, 2023 to 2026

- Jul 1, 2024 — **Agencies must give POST complaint-related personnel records within 30 days** — HB 31 (2024), Enrolled Act No. 31, ch. 41, adding W.S. 9-1-704(m), 9-1-708(h), and 9-1-710(o) and amending 16-4-203(d)(iii) · Signed March 7, 2024; effective July 1, 2024 (sec. 2) — The part of a peace officer’s, detention officer’s, dispatcher’s, or correctional officer’s personnel file that relates to a complaint, and is relevant to the hiring qualifications or the commission’s fitness standards, “shall be made available” to POST within 30 days of its written request. POST may request records only to investigate or decide initial or continuing certification, suspension, revocation, or termination. POST may not disclose the records “except as otherwise required by law.” If the agency does not comply, POST may petition the district court. The public records exemption for personnel files was amended to allow this release; the rest of the exemption predates the act. — **For officers:** POST can obtain the complaint-related parts of your personnel file when it reviews your certification. The public’s access to your file did not change. — [Enrolled Act No. 31](https://wyoleg.gov/2024/Enroll/HB0031.pdf)[HB 31 bill page](https://wyoleg.gov/Legislation/2024/HB0031)
- Jul 1, 2024 — **Records of the corrections investigation unit may be withheld as investigatory records** — SF 35 (2024), Enrolled Act No. 47, ch. 88, amending W.S. 16-4-203(b)(i) · Signed March 15, 2024; effective July 1, 2024 (sec. 2) — The discretionary public records exemption for investigation records of sheriffs, police, and prosecutors now also covers records of the Department of Corrections investigation services unit, “upon approval by the attorney general.” A custodian may deny inspection if disclosure would be contrary to the public interest. The act does not address officer certification. — **For officers:** Records of corrections investigations may be withheld from public inspection when the attorney general approves and disclosure would be contrary to the public interest. — [Enrolled Act No. 47](https://wyoleg.gov/2024/Enroll/SF0035.pdf)

## Not yet in force and pending

No enacted change in this area awaits its effective date. These bills were not enacted: HB 173 (2023, records available to POST, a precursor of 2024 HB 31; not considered by the House Committee of the Whole); HB 145 (2023) and HB 50 (2025), disclosure of sensitive information about law enforcement (failed in the Senate Committee of the Whole 8-20 and the House Committee of the Whole 21-36); HB 142 (2024, POST Commission funding; failed introduction 19-42); and SF 87 (2026, felony interference with a police officer; failed in the House Committee of the Whole 10-48). No 2023–2026 bill on officer masks or face coverings was found.

POST rule content and filing history were checked on the Secretary of State’s Wyoming Administrative Rules system on October 20, 2026. The statute compilation does not print session-law history notes, so amending acts were identified from the 2023–2026 bill lists.

## Checked and unchanged

- W.S. 9-1-704(b), (h), and (j) (qualifications, automatic felony revocation, termination notice, and prior-employer inquiry): HB 31 added only subsection (m). A review of 2023–2026 enacted bill titles found no other POST or certification law.
- POST Commission rules, chapters 1 to 5 and 7 to 11: no 2023–2026 filing was found, and the current versions show an effective date of January 5, 2018. The rules system lists no proposed, emergency, or later version of these chapters.
- Use of force and duty to intervene: no Wyoming statute found.
- Not counted: SF 4 (2025) revised the peace officer definition for state park rangers in W.S. 6-1-104 and 7-2-101. The requirement to qualify under W.S. 9-1-701 to 9-1-707 predates the act.