Recommendation:
Revise policy to clearly articulate
the custodial responsibility of prisoners who are undergoing
polygraph examinations.
BPD Response:
Adopted
Recommendation:
Consider adopting a policy or
written procedures concerning guarding prisoners who are in
unsecured locations.
BPD Response:
Adopted
Recommendation:
Clarify policy to clearly
communicate a standard of care for all injured or ill persons
encountered by BPD employees, regardless of the causation, and that
adequate equipment and training should be provided.
BPD Response:
Adopted
Recommendation:
Review policy concerning the release
of confidential information: 1) State a clear and usable
definition; (Previously recommended in
2001) 2) Examine the apparent practice of affording
special rights not found in the law to parents of those who have
reached the age of 18.
BPD Response:
Pending
Recommendation:
Evaluate current training to
determine its effectiveness in preparing officers to continuously
assess and evaluate the effectiveness of his or her fire when
discharging a firearm.
BPD Response:
Not Adopted
Recommendation:
Adopt BPD and APD policy language
that: 1) Clearly articulates that shooting at a moving
vehicle, its driver, and/or its passengers is inherently dangerous
and generally ineffective; 2) Reminds officers of
their public responsibility to avoid tactics that unnecessarily
create dangerous circumstances or the need to use deadly force if
other equally effective options are available; 3) Informs
officers that moving out of the way of an on-coming vehicle,
retreating, reposition, and obtaining cover are sound police
tactics, not examples of cowardice or
weakness; 4) Requires officers to take into account
the presence of other vehicles, pedestrians, innocent bystanders,
and occupied structures and weigh the potential danger to others
before shooting at a moving vehicle, its driver, or any
ccupants; 5) Prohibits officers from intentionally
placing themselves in front of or behind a stationary occupied
vehicle; 6) Prohibits officers from intentionally
stepping in the path of a moving
vehicle; 7) Directs officers to avoid placing
themselves in an inherently dangerous position which would expose
them to danger should the suspect vehicle become
mobile; 8) Requires officers to get out of the path
of a moving vehicle if at all physically possible; 9)
Prohibits officers from firing their weapons at a moving vehicle,
its driver, and/or its passengers except as a last resort
when: a) the officer is physically unable to either get
out of the vehicle's path and/or, b) a deadly threat is
present, other than the approach of the vehicle itself (e.g., shots
are being fired at the officer or others from inside the vehicle)
and the officer and/or those being threatened are able to obtain
sufficient cover.
BPD Response:
Adopted (in part)
Recommendation:
Develop and implement education and
training sufficient to implement the policy recommended above.
BPD Response:
Adopted
Recommendation:
The ombudsman repeats and reinforces
his 2005 recommendation that BPD make such changes to current audio
recording and critical incident policies and procedures as are
necessary to require officers to audio record all statements made
by involved parties, victims, suspects, witnesses, etc. officers
and non-officers alike.
BPD Response: Not
Adopted
Recommendation:
Closely scrutinize the practice of
searching a dead suspect's home, especially in cases where the
suspect was killed by law enforcement officers. (Police
policy and procedures must make it clear that the deliberate use of
a Fourth Amendment warrant for purpose of gathering evidence for
the defense of a civil action must not take place.)
BPD Response:
Not Adopted
Recommendation:
Work with CITF to institute those
changes to CITF procedures and management oversight necessary to
insure the proper identification, collection, handling, testing,
and safeguarding of evidence in the course of a CITF
investigation.
BPD Response:
Adopted
Recommendation:
Immediately begin a formal program
of training and establishing Crisis Intervention Teams.
BPD Response:
Adopted
Recommendation:
Design and implement on-going
training for all officers to improve their ability to effectively
accomplish the difficult responsibilities of being a primary
officer for incidents that include an existing or potential threat
to life or property and require the response of two or more
officers.
BPD Response:
Adopted
