Curriculum Accreditation Process

Law Enforcement Officer Certification

DoD POST consists of ten Defense agencies; The Defense Health Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Logistics Agency, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, Pentagon Force Protection Agency, United States Air Force, United States Army, United States Navy, and the United States Marine Corps. Each Defense agency is led by a Commissioner who represents his organization at the DoD POST Commission. These Commissioners vote on policies and standards that establish training, accreditation and certification requirements for courses and law enforcement officer certification.  All Department of Defense  (DOD) Law Enforcement Officers, both military and civilian, must complete a basic law enforcement training program consisting of a minimum of 400-hours and covers all officers employed prior to the course accreditation date of the basic LE training program are grandfathered from attending a POST Academy.  Everyone employed by a POST-accredited agency AFTER the curriculum accreditation date MUST COMPLETE THE AGENCY’S BASIC LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINING PROGRAM to qualify for POST accreditation.  As of 3 November 2023, after a 3-year break in law enforcement service/duty, Law Enforcement Officers must reattend their employer’s assigned DoD POST Accredited Academy.  Waivers to the DoDI 5525.15 training requirement must be submitted by the Service Secretary to the Undersecretary of Defense (I&S) for consideration.  Waivers of DoDI 5525.15 cannot be granted internal to the Service or Defense agency. For questions and clarification or for staffing purposes, contact the Director, Office of Accreditation and Credentialing listed under the “Staff” tab of the main page of this website. -required Terminal Learning Objectives in DoDI 5525.15, Guideline-1, at an academy that is accredited by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation Board and the DoD POST Commission. Successfully completing an accredited program of instruction is only one hurdle to peace officer certification.  Other agency policy requirements must be satisfied and validated by the Office of Accreditation and Credentialing before DoD POST certification is awarded. 

 

Investigative Analyst Certification

All service and agency law enforcement personnel directly assigned to investigative analysis and or its management must be trained by a DoD accredited academy in order to receive DoD POST certification.  The training standards for all DoD POST Training Academies are contained in Guideline-3 of DoDI 5525.15, Investigative Analyst Training Standards.  This is an approved list of minimum training topics that must be taught by each academy/course. 

New Accession IAs:  All new IAs will be awarded with their DODPOST Certification at the graduation of their academy or course (if the curriculum has been assessed and approved by the DODPOST Commission).  DODPOST Certificates will be prepared and made available to courses and academies based on their graduation dates and the submission lead times to the OAC from an academy or course.  See Annex D Form.

 Legacy IAs:  All legacy IAs will be awarded their DODPOST Certification based on an application process that will allow DODPOST to review each IA and their record based on the IA application data.   See Annex E Form. This Guideline can be obtained under the “Guidelines” tab.

Agency Accreditation

DOD POST Commission is a DOD level of leaders from the four military defense services and five service agencies with military and civilian police officers.  The senior military and civilian law enforcement leaders from the US Air Force Security Forces, US Navy Law Enforcement, US Marine Corps Law Enforcement and US Army Law Enforcement.  The DOD civilian law enforcement agencies include leaders with the National Security Agency (NSA) Police, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Police, Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) Police, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Police, and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) Police.  The Agency Accreditations is a confirmation that the Service or Agency meets all the DODPOST requirements and standards and is duly recognized as accredited. For further information on Agency Certification, contact the Director, OAC, listed under the “Staff” tab.​​​​​​​