During the campaign for the open sheriff seat, candidate Ray
Wood continually has made an issue of opponent Pat Turturici’s
level of experience with the Basic Peace Officer Standards and
Training Certificate
– which allows officers to work on patrol and make arrests.
During the campaign for the open sheriff seat, candidate Ray Wood continually has made an issue of opponent Pat Turturici’s level of experience with the Basic Peace Officer Standards and Training Certificate – which allows officers to work on patrol and make arrests.
As Wood has pointed out in his criticism, Turturici received his Basic POST Certificate in 2004, nearly 19 years after he started as a deputy in 1985, according to information requested by the Free Lance from the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.
It turns out, however, those same records also revealed that Wood is the only candidate among four in the June primary excluded from a list showing recipients of the Advanced POST Certificate – the third of the primary training credentials for peace officers.
Wood, a Hollister police sergeant, responded by contending he did, indeed, receive the Advanced POST Certificate. While the state commission’s records showed that Wood never received his Advanced POST Certificate after applying for it 16 years ago, the candidate presented documents to the Free Lance on his Hollister police records that indicated the department filed for the document in June 1994 and received confirmation of it days later. The police chief and city manager at the time signed the document, which has prompted a higher pay scale for Wood since that time, he said.
“The city has done everything they needed to do on this end,” Wood said. “We are trying to get a physical copy of the certificate.”
Turturici responded to Wood’s criticism, meanwhile, by noting that he spent most of his career working at the jail and how a basic certificate was unnecessary for it.
Turturici has all three certificates but was issued his first one six years ago before he was promoted from lieutenant to undersheriff, records show. He got his advanced certificate in three years due to his college education, he pointed out.
“My record speaks for itself,” Turturici said. “I have all the qualifications I need.”
With Wood criticizing Turturici’s qualifications throughout his campaign, the Free Lance requested records of each candidates’ certificates from the state commission. Those primary credentials include basic, intermediate and advanced certificates, according to the state commission’s spokesman Ron Wood. There are more specialized certificates beyond those as well.
Ron Wood, no relation to the local candidate, acknowledged that POST’s records before 2000 can be difficult to research if they were not added correctly to POST’s electronic database. All documents before 2000 are in physical form and may not have been entered electronically, he said.
“We are going to correct this,” Ray Wood said. “I qualified for it then and I have surpassed the qualifications years ago.”
Wood received his basic certificate in 1983 and his intermediate certificate in 1990, according to the commission. As its spokesman pointed out, a Basic POST Certificate is required for police officers who work on patrol, and it allows officers to make arrests and continue to do “peace officer work.” A peace officer can make arrests based on suspicion and reasonable cause. A certificate also allows officers to carry a baton and a firearm.
“A POST certificate is basically a license for carrying a weapon,” the state spokesman said.
Once an officer completes police academy, he or she has at least two years to obtain a POST certificate. They must spend at least 90 days of on-duty training with another officer and one year on probation, and complete at least 660 hours minimum of classes. Most classes run in excess of 800 hours, according to the commission spokesman. If the requirements aren’t completed within two years, the officer must retake the classes, although they are compressed.
After an officer is given a basic certificate, hours worked and college credit influence advancement to other certificates. With each certificate, the officer gets a raise.
Turturici received his basic certificate when Sheriff Curtis Hill asked him to move from the jail to patrol in 2003 after he had worked there for more than 18 years. To do that, he had to complete basic POST training.
Turturici worked as a reserve officer at the San Juan Bautista and Hollister police departments in the 1990s while at the jail full time with the sheriff’s office. He received his intermediate certificate in 2005 and his advanced certificate in 2007.
For the other two candidates, Watsonville police Lt. Darren Thompson was given his basic certificate in 1989 before getting his intermediate certificate in 1994 and his advanced in 1997. He could not be reached immediately before publication on the POST matter.
Marshal Robert Scattini received his basic certificate in 1970, his intermediate certificate later in the same year and his advanced certificate in 1972. He declined to comment about the campaign issue.
