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 City of Alameda (City) Police Department (APD) remains committed to the timely adoption of sound policies and procedures so it can deliver procedurally just service that aligns with best practices and industry standards. To effectively accomplish this:
• APD contracts with a policy development company (Lexipol) to generate, retain, update, and publish 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.
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 APD. 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 resources.
Approximately 12 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 the City 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 policy updates/changes outlined in this report fall into those categories and are already being implemented.
DISCUSSION
The following APD policies required updating:
312: Firearms
This policy is being updated based on a May 2022 Presidential Executive Order and subsequent May 2023 accreditation standards issued by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).
State-accrediting entities must comply with the DOJ standards to qualify as independent credentialing bodies. Although the standards issued by the DOJ do not directly impact local law enforcement agencies, the federal action is structured to encourage these agencies to seek state accreditation by making certain federal grant funding dependent on an agency achieving accredited status. Lexipol has updated content to place agencies in the best position possible if and when they elect to seek accreditation.
The May 2023 DOJ standards require agencies to have written directives relating to a prohibition on warning shots. The use of warning shots has long been controversial. Previously, Lexipol best practice content discouraged warning shots but allowed for their use in limited circumstances. With this recent activity at the federal level and given recent trends relating to the use of warning shots, agencies are best served by this restricted approach.
Changes to this policy include (See Exhibit 1, Pages 6,8):
• In WARNING AND OTHER SHOTS, content has been updated to state that warning shots should not be used, and a serial comma has been added.
Unrelated to the DOJ update, additional changes include:
• In STORAGE IN VEHICLES, a citation has been removed because identical language is included in another citation.
318: Canines
This policy has been updated because legislative action impacts its content.
2022 HR 8454 updated the federal statute regarding the Controlled Substance Act, resulting in the renumbering of certain content that is applicable to canine handlers.
Changes to this policy include (See Exhibit 1, Pages 13,21,23):
• In CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE TRAINING AIDS, a citation has been updated.
902: Custodial Searches
This policy is being updated based on a May 2022 Presidential Executive Order and subsequent May 2023 accreditation standards issued by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). As discussed above regarding changes to 312 (Firearms), Lexipol has updated content to place agencies in the best position possible if and when they elect to seek accreditation.
The DOJ standards require agencies to have written procedures relating to strip and body cavity searches that contain provisions specific to juveniles and gender identity and expression. This policy has been updated to address these issues. With regard to juveniles, content has been added to provide that juveniles requiring a strip or body cavity search be transported to either a medical facility or a juvenile detention facility. This content is based on Lexipol's best practice position that local agencies should not conduct strip or body cavity searches of juveniles due to the fact that, in addition to the risks commonly associated with such searches, when conducted on juveniles, these searches are recognized as being highly traumatic and therefore present a high-risk scenario for an agency.
Consistent with this policy update, APD coordinates with the Alameda County Juvenile Hall facility to accommodate searches of juveniles, as needed.
Changes to this policy include (See Exhibit 1, Pages 24,28-29):
• GENDER IDENTITY OR EXPRESSION CONSIDERATIONS has been added as a new section to address strip and body cavity searches.
• JUVENILES has been added as a new section to address strip and body cavity searches of juveniles. In addition to the procedures, an agency should seek to establish agreements with appropriate medical and juvenile detention facilities concerning transferring custody of juveniles for strip or body cavity searches.
• The Guide Sheet has been updated.
1000: Recruitment and Selection
This policy is being updated based on a May 2022 Presidential Executive Order and subsequent May 2023 accreditation standards issued by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). As discussed above regarding changes to 312 (Firearms), Lexipol has updated content to place agencies in the best position possible if and when they elect to seek accreditation.
Changes to this policy include (See Exhibit 1, Pages 30-32):
• In RECRUITMENT, content has been added to require agencies to have, as part of their recruitment strategy, a written recruitment plan. Content has also been included to provide that an agency’s recruitment strategy outlines steps for recruiting candidates who are representative of the community served, gendered pronouns have been removed, and serial commas have been added.
• SELECTION PROCESS has been updated to clarify that the selection process must include both personal and professional reference checks and a review of relevant national and state decertification records. Content has also been added to require that an agency review any relevant information on a candidate available in the new National Law Enforcement Accountability Database as part of the hiring process. Finally, content has been added to require that, as part of the selection process, information obtained from public internet sites should be reviewed for any activity that promotes or supports unlawful violence or unlawful bias against a person based on protected characteristics.
1002: Evaluation of Employees
This policy's Guide Sheet is being updated based on a May 2022 Presidential Executive Order and subsequent May 2023 accreditation standards issued by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). As discussed above regarding changes to 312 (Firearms), Lexipol has updated content to place agencies in the best position possible if and when they elect to seek accreditation.
Changes to this policy include (See Exhibit 1, Pages 37,39):
• The Guide Sheet has been updated to include directions regarding specific criteria that should be reviewed for members and supervisors.
1004: Special Assignment and Promotions
This policy's Guide Sheet is being updated based on a May 2022 Presidential Executive Order and subsequent May 2023 accreditation standards issued by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). As discussed above regarding changes to 312 (Firearms), Lexipol has updated content to place agencies in the best position possible if and when they elect to seek accreditation.
Changes to this policy include (See Exhibit 1, Page 41):
• The Guide Sheet has been updated to include content related to the development and implementation of a comprehensive career development strategy for officers.
1014: Sick leave
This policy is being updated to bring it in line with the Alameda Police Officers Association Memorandum of Understanding.
Changes to this policy include (See Exhibit 1, Pages 43-44):
• Remove the requirement for a note from a medical professional for an absence of three days or more.
• Add a requirement for a note from a medical professional to return to work if an employee has used more than fifty (50) percent of their annual sick leave accrual in a calendar year.
1035: Lactation Break
This policy has been updated because legislative action impacts its content.
2022 HR 2617 changed the location of some federal statutory content. As a result, federal statutes cited in this policy were renumbered. Changes to this policy include (See Exhibit 1, Pages 46-47):
• In POLICY, a citation and terminology have been updated, and a gender pronoun has been removed.
• In LACTATION BREAK TIME and PRIVATE LOCATION, citations and terminology have been updated.
Unrelated to the legislative update, additional changes include:
• In PURPOSE AND SCOPE, STORAGE OF EXPRESSED MILK, and STATE REQUIREMENTS, terminology has been updated.
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 published by Lexipol. See the Discussion section for the policy number. This relates to the Strategic Priority to Enhance Community Safety & Services.
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,
Jeffery Emmitt, Police Captain
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Margaret O’Brien, Finance Director
Exhibit:
1. Policy Updates