Title
Recommendation to Authorize Interim Chief of Police In Consultation with the City Manager to Implement Pending and Future Updates to the Alameda Police Department Policy Manual to be Current with Best Practices and Statutory Requirements. (Police 3111)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Alameda Police Department (APD) contracts with Lexipol for the generation, retention, updating and publishing of our 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. There are currently 16 policies that have been flagged for review and update by Lexipol.
BACKGROUND
Prior to Lexipol, the APD operated on a set of General Orders that functioned as a policy manual for the Police Department. Under the General Orders concept, the policy manual was a paper document, and the Police Department and City Attorney’s Office were required to manually monitor new best practices, case law, and legislature. Those new practices and laws would then have to be distilled into a new or modified General Order, which would then be printed and disseminated for training at the Police Department. This was a time consuming and cumbersome process that required a significant amount of City of Alameda (City) resources be expended to keep up to date.
Approximately 10 years ago, the APD entered into an agreement with Lexipol to create, maintain, update and publish a policy manual for the Department. Lexipol is a risk management company that specializes in the creation of electronic public safety policy manuals. They currently serve approximately 8,100 public safety agencies/municipalities, and reviewed approximately 9,000 legislative and regulatory changes last year to ensure the policy manuals they manage stay as current and comprehensive as possible. The pooling of resources caused by having so many public agencies obtaining their policy manuals from a single source, as well as utilizing an easily changeable electronic format, allows for near real time policy manual updating and instantaneous notification to employees of updates. In short, using Lexipol has resulted in the APD’s policy manual remaining more up to date, more easily accessible, and constantly reviewed by industry experts outside of APD.
On June 14, 2020, the City Council directed that no changes be made to the APD Policy Manual without bringing the changes before the City Council for discussion. This report is being generated to bring the 16 policies currently flagged for updating by Lexipol to the City Council for review, and to request authorization for continued future updates in consultation with the City Manager.
DISCUSSION
The 16 different policies flagged for update were flagged for a variety of reasons. None of the listed policies were updated due to a content change at the request of any employee of the APD. All updates were initiated by Lexipol in order to comply with current best practices, case law, legislative updates, or to fix grammatical errors. Some of the high importance/high liability policies were also forwarded to the City Attorney’s Office for a secondary review. Each policy that was reviewed by the City Attorney’s Office is noted as such in the discussion below.
Each policy to be updated is listed below, with a brief synopsis of the change which was taken from the update explanation generated by Lexipol. The individual policies and the changes to the policies, are highlighted in the exhibits attached to this report. There are two formats to illustrate the changes. In some, the changes are highlighted, with notes on the changes in red text. Both the draft policy with the changes, and the existing unchanged policy are attached as exhibits in this case. Some of the policies were able to auto generate a document which showed the active changes in a different manner. On those policies there is only one exhibit. The policy will show new/changed/added language in blue font, unchanged words in black font, and removed words in red lined out font.
Policy #1: APD Policy #100 - Law Enforcement Authority
Grammar and punctuation were corrected in the “ARREST AUTHORITY OUTSIDE THE JURISDICTION OF THE ALAMEDA POLICE DEPARTMENT” section. The word “with” was changed to the grammatically correct “within.” This is the only update for this policy. For full details see policies attached as Exhibit 1 (Updated) and 2 (Existing).
Policy #2: APD Policy #220 - Retiree Concealed Firearms
The section titled “DENIAL, SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF A CALIFORNIA CCW ENDORSEMENT CARD” had a citation moved to the end of the paragraph to aid in clarity. Punctuation and grammar were also changed in that section as well as “DENIAL, SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF A LEOSA IDENTIFICATION CARD.” For full details see policies attached as Exhibit 3 (Updated) and 4 (Existing).
Policy #3: APD Policy #300 - Use of Force (Reviewed by City Attorney’s Office)
This policy was updated to reflect state legislative action. 2019 SB 230 created Government Code section 7286 which requires law enforcement agencies to have a policy regarding a minimum standard for peace officer use of force. Each agency’s policy is required to include, among other things; the use of de-escalation techniques and other alternatives to force; when to apply deadly force; factors for reporting, evaluating, and reviewing all use-of-force incidents; and when officers may draw a firearm. There were numerous legislative changes that encompassed nearly every section in the policy. In addition, Lexipol also revised the policy to include “updated best practices after considerable research and deliberation over the national discussion on use of force.” With this update Lexipol also noted, “The national discussion regarding use of force involves a variety of topics, perspectives, and laws across the country. It is Lexipol’s commitment to continuous improvement that mandates comprehensive consideration of all of these factors to provide a policy that is legally sound and reflects best practices in order for agencies to fulfill their duties better and safer.”
Some of the required legislative major changes include: considering reasonably available alternatives to deadly force, proportionality, rendering medical aid, interceding to prevent excessive use of force, securing medical assistance, interacting with vulnerable populations, changing the duty to intercede to the duty to intercede and report uses of excessive force; mandating de-escalation tactics; considering reasonably available alternatives to deadly force, proportionality, rendering medical aid, interceding to prevent excessive use of force, securing medical assistance, interacting with vulnerable; requiring verbal warnings prior to using deadly force, firearms displays have been added as a separate policy section, medical aid for those who have been subjected to force further emphasized/prioritized, increased training requirements for officers on use of force and de-escalation, complaint procedures clarified and policy review/availability addressed. For full details see policies attached as Exhibit 5 (Updated) and 6 (Existing).
Policy #4: APD Policy #314 - Vehicle Pursuits
This policy also received broad sweeping changes from Lexipol. As this policy just became available for update, the redline policy directly from Lexipol showing the changes (existing policy that’s being removed is redlines, changes highlighted in blue, existing unchanged language in black) and is attached as exhibit 7. The reasoning behind the changes is to bring the vehicle pursuit policy in line with CA Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training’s most recent recommendations on best practices/law in vehicle pursuits. The full description of each individual change and the reasoning from Lexipol is attached in exhibit 8.
Policy #5: APD Policy #320 - Domestic Violence
This policy was updated to change/include current protected class language. Repetitive language regarding the confiscation of firearms was also removed. See exhibit 9 for the policy updates.
Policy #6: APD Policy #328 - Discriminatory Harassment
This policy was updated to change/include current protected class language, as well as simplify the supervisor role section. See exhibit 10 for the policy updates.
Policy #7: APD Policy #338 - Hate Crimes
This policy was updated to correct two citation errors (Highlighted in blue towards the end of the policy) and fix a spacing error in the supervisor section. See exhibit 11 for the policy updates.
Policy #8: APD Policy #340 - Standards of Conduct
This policy has been updated to reflect current best practices and update protected class language. There is also a change that make it necessary to update personal information with the City in the event of a change. See exhibit 12 for the policy updates.
Policy #9: APD Policy #402 - Biased based policing
This policy has been updated in the DEFINITIONS section to make the protected class language consistent with other APD policies. See exhibit 13 for the policy updates.
Policy #10: APD Policy #468 - First Amendment Assemblies
This policy has been updated in the INFORMATION GATHERING AND ASSESSMENT section to update protected class language to be consistent with other APD policies. A spacing error was also corrected in the PURPOSE AND SCOPE area, and in MEDIA RELATIONS a punctuation and policy reference have been corrected. See exhibit 14 for the policy updates.
Policy #11: APD Policy #804 - Property and Evidence (Reviewed by the City Attorney’s Office)
This policy has been updated to mirror state law. Certain sections of 2016 CA SB 746 take effect on July 1, 2020. Generally, the updates to this policy address the required conditions-owner’s presentation of identification, verification firearm not listed as stolen, etc.) for the release of magazines or ammunition taken into custody by APD. These requirements are covered in Penal Code § 33855. There were some grammar corrections as well. See exhibit 15 for the updates on the policy.
Policy #12: APD Policy #1000 - Recruitment and Selection
This policy has been updated in the POLICY section to update protected class language to be consistent with other APD policies. See exhibit 16 for the updates on the policy.
Policy #13: APD Policy #1002 - Evaluation of Employees
This policy has been updated in the POLICY section to update protected class language to be consistent with other APD policies. See exhibit 17 for the highlighted updates, and exhibit 18 for the existing policy.
Policy #14: APD Policy #1044 - Personal Appearance Standards
This policy has been updated to make the TATTOOS section more clear and consistent with other related policies. The JEWELRY AND ACCESSORIES section has be retitled JEWELRY, and has been modified to better align with current societal standards. See exhibit 19 for the updated policy.
Policy #15: APD Policy #1059 - Illness and Injury Prevention (Reviewed by the City Attorney’s Office)
This policy has been updated due to a new legislative requirement that requires employers to make the illness and injury prevention plan accessible to all employees. See exhibit 20 for the updated policy and exhibit 21 for the existing policy.
Given the numerosity of updates, APD further seeks authorization to continue implementing necessary future updates in coordination with the City Manager. Staff recognizes that there may be updates that create significant impact for the community, and in any such situation, Staff will of course inform the Council prior to implementing such high impacts updates.
ALTERNATIVES
Some policy alternatives concerning this item may include:
• Approve all policy updates and authorize future updates consistent with the staff recommendation;
• Approve all updates but continue to require Council approval for each future update;
• Approve only some of the updates, and request review/revision on the unapproved updates; or
• Do not approve any of the updates.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no direct financial impact from updating the policy manual. If policies that are currently not in line with best practices or legislation/case law are not updated, there could be a financial liability if the City is found to have operated under a policy that did not comply with applicable law.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
Policies referenced are from the APD Policy Manual as published by Lexipol. Individual policies, and applicable policy numbers, are discussed and referenced above.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. This action is not a project pursuant to Public Resources Code section 21065 and CEQA Guidelines section 15378. Additionally, this action is exempt from the CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines sections 15061(b)(3) (common sense exemption); 15321 (law enforcement activities).
CLIMATE IMPACTS
There are no climate impacts from this issue.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation to authorize the Interim Chief of Police, in consultation with the City Manager, to implement pending and future updates to the APD Policy Manual through Lexipol to ensure compliance with best practices, case law and legislation.
CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDATION
Out of an abundance of caution based on previous Council action, the updates are being brought forward to the City Council. The City Manager concurs with the Staff recommendation.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeffery Emmitt, Interim Chief of Police
By,
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Nancy Bronstein, Acting Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. APD Policy 100 Updated
2. APD Policy 100 Existing
3. APD Policy 220 Updated
4. APD Policy 220 Existing
5. APD Policy 300 Updated
6. APD Policy 300 Existing
7. APD Policy 314 Updates
8. APD Policy 314 Lexipol Rationale for Updates
9. APD Policy 320 Updates
10. APD Policy 328 Updates
11. APD Policy 338 Updates
12. APD Policy 340 Updates
13. APD Policy 402 Updates
14. APD Policy 468 Updates
15. APD Policy 804 Updates
16. APD Policy 1000 Updates
17. APD Policy 1002 Updated
18. APD Policy 1002 Existing
19. APD Policy 1044 Updates
20. APD Policy 1059 Updated
21. APD Policy 1059 Existing
cc: Eric Levitt, City Manager