Title
Recommendation to Authorize Updates to the Existing Alameda Police Department Policy Manual to Conform to Best Practices and to Ratify Policies that Have Been Updated Pursuant to Legal Updates, Significant Liability Issues, and Imminent Safety. (Police 10031100)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Alameda Police Department (APD) remains committed to the timely adoption of sound policies and procedures so it can deliver procedurally just service that is in line with best practices and industry standards. In an effort to effectively accomplish this:
• APD contracts with a policy development company (Lexipol) for the generation, retention, updating, and publishing of the APD policy manual. Part of the contract includes periodic review and revision of the policy manual to reflect current best practices, emerging case law, and new legislative changes/mandates.
and
• In addition to Lexipol, APD further engages in regular reviews and proposes policy modifications when operational changes occur or when the need for new internal procedures are identified. This report provides recommended changes to various policies based on legal developments and/or recommended best practices.
BACKGROUND
Before Lexipol, APD operated on a set of General Orders that functioned as a policy manual for the Department. At that time, APD and the City Attorney's Office were solely responsible for:
• Monitoring evolving best practices;
• Staying abreast of relevant new case law, and changes in legislation;
• Updating and modifying the General Orders to include new best practices and laws; and
• Printing and disseminating updated/modified General Orders to APD personnel.
This time-consuming and cumbersome process required a tremendous amount of City of Alameda (City) resources.
Approximately 11 years ago, APD entered into an agreement with Lexipol to create, maintain, update, and publish a policy manual. Lexipol is a risk management company that specializes in the creation of electronic public safety policy manuals. Lexipol effectively serves approximately 8,100 public safety agencies/municipalities by:
• Reviewing legislative and regulatory changes that impact operational services. On average, Lexipol reviews about 9,000 changes every year to ensure the policy manuals it manages stay current and comprehensive;
• Pooling resources so its clients are able to obtain their policy manuals from a single source in an easily changeable electronic format that allows for near real-time policy manual updating and instantaneous notification to employees of updates; and
• Working with subject matter experts in policy development.
In short, using Lexipol has resulted in APD's policy manual remaining more up-to-date, more easily accessible, and constantly reviewed by industry experts outside APD.
Although APD works with Lexipol for policy development and updates, APD has the ability to use Lexipol recommendations as a baseline to create a more restrictive policy for implementation into operations.
At the September 20, 2022, City Council Meeting, City Council provided direction to staff to continue bringing policy updates/changes to the APD policy manual to Council for review and confirmation. However, City Council authorized the Chief of Police to make applicable updates/changes to the policy manual that would be valid and enforceable immediately, if they fell into one of three categories:
• Legal updates,
• Imminent safety issues, and
• Liability issues.
All of the policy updates/changes outlined in this report fall into those categories and are already being implemented.
DISCUSSION
The following APD policy required updating:
300 - Use of Force
A team of subject matter experts from the Alameda Police Department and the Public Defender’s Office assembled to update this policy. This team used recommendations from the City of Alameda's Steering Committee on Police Reform and Racial Equity to frame the updates in this policy. These updates address significant liability issues and imminent safety. The policy update includes defining several terms involving using force, de-escalation, and disengagement. The revision addresses when officers should consider repositioning and disengaging to avoid or minimize injuries to the suspect. Further, it strengthens the requirements to reposition handcuffed people in supine positions or other situations that may result in airway compression for the suspect. (See Exhibit 1)
ALTERNATIVES
• Approve the policy updates
• Do not approve the policy updates
• Modify the policy updates
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact from approving the policy updates from Lexipol. Funding for the Lexipol contract is currently included under the Police Administrative Services Division budget.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
The policy referenced is from the APD policy manual, as published by Lexipol. See the Discussion section for the policy number.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action does not constitute a "project" as defined in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378, and therefore, no further CEQA analysis is required.
CLIMATE IMPACT
There are no identifiable climate impacts or climate action opportunities associated with the subject of this report.
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize updates to the existing Alameda Police Department policy manual to conform to best practices and to ratify policies that have been updated pursuant to legal updates, significant liability issues, and imminent safety.
Respectfully submitted,
Nishant Joshi, Chief of Police
By,
Matt McMullen, Police Captain
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Margaret O'Brien, Finance Director
Exhibit:
1 Policy Update