POST Commission recently amended its certification requirements to require officers to upload personal contact information

Dear NEPBA Massachusetts Members subject to POST Certification:

As many of you are aware, the POST Commission recently amended its certification requirements to require officers to upload personal contact information (as opposed to just agency contact information).  It was initially unclear whether POST was requiring officers to include their home addresses, and the notices they sent out were confusing and concerning, to say the least.  We are very aware of the potential danger of accumulating and releasing (either on purpose or by accident) the personal contact information of our members.

I have directed our lawyers at Nolan Perroni PC to contact POST for clarification, and to seek to protect our members from this requirement to the extent possible. Following written correspondence, today, our attorneys had a phone discussion with POST’s General Counsel.  Based on that phone meeting, we can report the following:

1. This current rule change does not appear to be settled, given the depth of complaints received by POST like the ones communicated by NEPBA.  POST will consider the issue again in its meeting next Thursday, June 15th;

2.  The reason behind this rule change was primarily to be able to contact those officers who may be separated from work (on leave, resigned, retired, etc.)

3. Leaving aside any further changes to the rule next week, the current version of the rule does not require officers to provide a home address.  Officers have the option of providing either any physical address or any email address.  The physical address can be any address (lawyers office, union office, somewhere other than home, etc), and the email, if that is your choice, does not have to be your usual personal email, but can be a generic, non-identifying email (i.e, create a generate gmail address).

4. Our lawyers provided a written objection and clarification letter setting forth the dangerousness of this rule to our members, and the potential irreparable harm surrounding this new policy, and requesting that the full commission address NEPBA’s written concerns in its meeting next week.  Attached is a copy of that letter.

The above represents the latest information as of this afternoon.  We will continue to press these important concerns and will update you as more information becomes available.  Next steps will be determined in the coming days.

Fraternally,
Chris Ryan, President