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Officer Involved Critical Incident

Utah Department of Public Safety 

Policy 507  OFFICER INVOLVED CRITICAL INCIDENT

507.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE
The purpose of this policy is to establish the process for the investigation of an incident in which
a person sustains serious bodily injury or death as the result of an officer’s actions in the official
performance of his or her duties; or intent by the officer and their actions to cause death or
bodily injury to a person. The intent of this policy is to ensure that such incidents be investigated
in a fair and impartial manner.Nothing in this policy is intended to increase, modify, or in any way affect the current legal
standards nor shall any deviation from these guidelines be considered a breach of any legal
standard.

507.2 DEFINITIONS
(a) Officer Involved Critical Incident (OICI) means an incident involving the death or serious
bodily injury of an officer or other person(s) as a result of an officer(s) performing their
official duties.
(b) Jurisdiction means the location of the critical incident.

507.3 INITIAL ON-SCENE OFFICER RESPONSIBILITIES
(a) Officers involved or immediately arriving at the scene of an OICI shall take measures
that are reasonably possible and appropriate to protect their safety, the safety of others,
and preserve evidence essential to the investigation, including:
1. Ensure no continued threat exist to officer or public safety;
2. Identify wounded or injured officers, suspects, and victims and request appropriate
medical response;
3. Identify, secure, and separate suspects;
4. Relay information of fleeing suspects to communications center or responding
units and establish containment;
5. Identify, secure, separate, and contain potential witnesses;
6. Ensure supervisor notification and response;
7. Coordinate responding resources as appropriate;
8. Identify and secure any involved weapons;
(a) Officer’s handguns should be secured in the holster if possible.
(b) Other weapons should be secured in place if possible.
(c) Weapons should remain in the existing condition unless exigent
circumstances dictate otherwise.
9. Identify and protect potential evidence and the overall crime scene;
10. Maintain control and command of scene until properly relieved; and
11. Start a written record of personnel involved in the incident I investigation and their
assignments.

507.4 INITIAL ON-SCENE SUPERVISOR RESPONSIBILITIES
(a) Upon arrival at the scene of an officer-involved critical incident, the first uninvolved
supervisor shall:
1. Take all necessary steps to provide emergency medical attention for all apparently
injured individuals;
2. If an officer has been wounded or injured, do the following:
(a) Assign an officer to remain with the injured officer and accompany him or
her at all times;
(b) Ensure the priority of in-person notification of the involved officer’s family;
(c) Assign an officer to remain with the family to facilitate their immediate
needs and act as a liaison for the Department to the family;
(d) Ensure the officers weapons and duty gear are collected and secured; and
(e) Take care to preserve the integrity of any physical evidence present on the
officer, equipment, or clothing (e.g., blood, fingerprints) until investigators or
lab personnel can properly retrieve it.
3. If a suspect or other person has been injured, assign an officer to remain with the
injured individual and accompany the individual to a medical treatment facility.
4. Complete documentation should be made of all statements;
5. Make proper immediate notifications to the following:
(a) Section Commander;
(b) State Bureau of Investigation; and
(c) Public Information Officer.
6. Attempt to obtain a brief overview of the situation from an involved officer(s);
(a) This should only include a general representation of events involved in the
incident to address public safety concerns and to identify the scope of the
incident and scene.
7. If necessary, administratively order any officer from the Department to immediately
provide public safety information necessary to secure the scene and pursue
suspects;
(a) Public safety information shall be limited to such things as outstanding
suspect information, number, and direction of shots fired (if a shooting
incident), parameters of the incident scene, identity of known witnesses,
and similar information.
8. Do not attempt to order any officer to provide more than public safety information;
9. Provide all available information to the Section Commander and the
Communications Center with sensitive information communicated over secure
networks, if feasible;
10. Take command of and secure the incident scene with additional personnel until
properly relieved;
11 . As soon as practical, remove involved officers from the scene to a secure location;
(a) Each involved officer shall be given an administrative order not to discuss
the incident until asked to do so in conjunction with the OICI investigation.
(b) In the event the involved officer’s handgun needs to be held as evidence
the handgun shall be secured in the officer’s holster until a replacement can
be provided to the officer. When applicable, other weapons, including long
guns, will be maintained in the existing condition until secured by a member
of the OICI investigation team.
12. Ensure that all initial on-scene responsibilities have been addressed and
coordinate the arrival of additional resources;
13. Establish a staging area for media;
14. Ensure that all requests for interviews and information are coordinated through the
Pia; and
15. Start a written record of personnel involved in the incident / investigation and their
assignments.

507.5 SECTION COMMANDER
(a) Upon notification the Section Commander shall be responsible for coordinating all aspects
of the OICI.
(b) The Section Commander is charged with the oversight of the on-scene officers and
supervisors.
(c) The Section Commander shall respond to the scene and upon arriving shall:
1. Receive a full briefing from the on-scene supervisor to include:
(a) Scope of the incident;
(b) Involved officers, suspects, witnesses;
(c) Public safety threats or concerns;
(d) Completed Notifications;
(e) Assignments of personnel; and
(f) Current status of investigation
2. Assume incident command of the OICI and begin to coordinate additional
personnel and resources;
3. Coordinate with appropriate outside agencies to facilitate the investigation of the
OICI ;
(a) This shall be done in a manner consistent with the requirements of Utah Code
76-2-408 and this policy as well any existing locally established protocols, MOUs
or other agreements governing the investigation of an OICI.
4. Ensure the priority of in-person notification of the involved officer’s family;
5. Assign an officer to remain with the family to facilitate their immediate needs and
act as a liaison for the Department to the family if it has not already been done.
6. Facilitate additional notifications as needed to include:
(a) Appropriate chain of command up to the Commissioner of Public Safety;
(b) State Bureau of Investigation;
(c) Prosecuting Attorney / OICI team;
(d) Office of Professional Standards;
(e) Public Information Officer;
(f) Department legal counsel and risk management as appropriate; and
(g) Coordinate with the PIO concerning all outside inquiries regarding the OICI.

507.6 INVOLVED OFFICERS ACCOMMODATION
(a) Once involved officer(s) have been moved to a secure location, each officer will be
admonished that the incident shall not be discussed except with authorized personnel or
representatives. The following shall be considered for the involved officer:
1. Any request for legal representation will be accommodated.
2. Discussions with licensed attorneys will be considered privileged as attorney client
communications.
3. Discussions with Department representatives (e.g ., association / peer support) will
be privileged only as to the discussion of non-criminal information.
4. A psychotherapist shall be provided by the Department to each involved officer, or
any officer upon request.
(a) Interviews with a licensed psychotherapist will be considered privileged and
will not be disclosed except to the extent that the officer is or is not fit for
return to duty.
5. A peer officer will be assigned to each involved officer to provide support and
assistance as necessary and appropriate. The peer officer will maintain this
responsibility until relieved by the section commander.
(a) Although the Department will honor the sensitivity of communications with
peer officers, there is no legal privilege to such. Peer officers should not
discuss facts of any incident with an involved or witness officer.
6. All reasonable accommodations should be made to meet the officer’s physical and
emotional needs.
7. Each involved officer shall be given reasonable paid administrative leave following
an officer-involved critical incident and it shall be the responsibility of the Section
Commander to make schedule adjustments to accommodate such leave.

507.7 INVESTIGATION OF OICI
(a) All Officer Involved Critical Incidents shall be investigated with the utmost
thoroughness, professionalism and impartiality to determine if the involved officer’s actions
conform to applicable state statute and Department policy.

507.7.1 TYPES OF INVESTIGATIONS
Officer-involved critical incidents may involve several separate investigations. These
investigations may include:
(a) A criminal investigation of the events leading up to the officer involved critical incident
conducted by the Department of Public Safety.
1. This investigation may be relinquished to an outside agency with the approval the
Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, or his designee.
(b) A criminal investigation of the involved officer(s) actions in the critical incident conducted
by an outside agency.
1. The Department may be involved in this investigation as provided by applicable
interagency agreements and state law provided the Department is not the lead
agency.
(c) A civil investigation to determine potential liability conducted by the involved officer’s
agency.
(d) An administrative investigation conducted by the involved officer’s agency to determine if
there were any violations of Department policy.

507.7.2 UTAH DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER INVOLVED IN A
CRITICAL INCIDENT
The Utah Department of Public Safety is responsible for the criminal investigation of the
suspect’s actions, the civil investigation and the administrative investigation. The criminal
investigation of the officer-involved critical incident will be conducted by an outside agency at
the direction of the appropriate prosecuting attorney’s office and executive of the venue agency.

507.7.3 ALLIED AGENCY’S OFFICER INVOLVED IN A CRITICAL INCIDENT
WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE UTAH DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
At the request of the involved agency, or the appropriate prosecuting attorney’s office, the Utah
Department of Public Safety may assume responsibility for the criminal investigation of the
suspect’s action, and/or the criminal investigation of the officer-involved critical incident. The
officer’s employing agency will be responsible for any civil and/or administrative investigation(s).

507.7.4 SBI INVESTIGATION OF AN OICI
(a) Once notified of an officer involved critical incident, it shall be the responsibility of the
State Bureau of Investigation to assign appropriate investigative personnel to participate
in the investigation of the officer involved critical incident as directed by the lead agency.
(b) Investigators will be assigned to work with OICI investigation team under the direction of
the lead agency or task force conducting the investigation.
(c) Additional investigators may be assigned to handle separate investigations of any related
crimes not being investigated by the lead agency of task force as part of the OICI.
(d) All related Department reports, except those related to the administrative investigation, will
be forwarded to the investigations bureau supervisor assigned to the OICI investigation.
1. The Office of Professional Standards will maintain reports related to the
administrative investigation.
(e) All officers who enter the designated incident scene of an officer-involved critical incident,
who are not being interviewed in the OICI, will complete a report documenting their
involvement.

507.7.5 OICI CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
(a) The Department and its personnel shall cooperate with investigators assigned by
prosecuting attorney’s office to facilitate an independent criminal investigation into the
circumstances of any officer-involved critical incident involving serious injury or death.
(b) Once public safety issues have been addressed (scene security, outstanding suspects,
victims etc.), interviews of involved officer(s) will be conducted by investigators assigned
to the officer-involved critical incident investigation. The following shall be considered for
the involved officer:
1. Supervisors and Office of Professional Standards personnel should not participate
directly in any voluntary interview of involved officers.
2. OICI interviews of involved acting officer(s) should occur as determined by the
needs of the officer and is voluntary. This time frame may be flexible with
consideration of the physical and emotional needs of the involved officer.
3. If requested, any involved officer will be afforded the opportunity to consult with an
attorney of his/her choosing prior to speaking with criminal investigators.
4. Any voluntary statement provided by the officer(s) will be made available for
inclusion in the administrative or other related investigations.
5. Absent consent from the involved officer or as required by law, no administratively
coerced statement(s) will be provided to any criminal investigators.
6. In the event that suspects remain outstanding or subject to prosecution for related
offenses, this department shall retain the authority to require involved officers to
provide sufficient information for related criminal reports to facilitate the
apprehension and prosecution of those individuals.
7. It is generally recommended that reports documenting the actions of officers
considered actors in the OICI be completed by assigned investigators in
conjunction with interviews of the officers. The purpose of these reports will be to
facilitate the OICI criminal investigation.
(c) Involved officer audio / video recording:
1. The Department will provide the original audio / video recordings to the OICI team.
Copies are prohibited.
2. Prior to providing any statements /interviews in conjunction with an OICI incident
the involved officer will generally not be provided an opportunity to review any
audio / video recordings without authorization of the OICI team and prosecuting
attorney having jurisdiction.

507.7.6 ADMINISTRATIVE INVESTIGATION
In addition to all other investigations associated with an officer-involved critical incident, this
department will conduct an internal administrative investigation to determine conformance with
all Department policy. This investigation will be conducted under the supervision of the Office of
Professional Standards and will be considered a confidential peace officer personnel file.
(a) Any officer involved in an OICI may be administratively compelled to provide a blood
sample for alcohol/drug screening. Absent consent from the officer, such compelled
samples and the results of any such testing shall not be disclosed to any criminal
investigative agency.
(b) If any officer has voluntarily elected to provide a statement to criminal investigators, the
assigned administrative investigator should review that statement before proceeding with
any further interview of that involved officer.
1. If a further interview of the officer is deemed necessary to determine policy
compliance, care should be taken to limit the inquiry to new areas with minimal, if
any, duplication of questions addressed in the voluntary statement. The involved
officer shall be provided with a copy of his/her prior statement before proceeding
with any subsequent interview(s).
(c) In the event that an involved officer has elected to not provide criminal investigators with a
voluntary statement, the assigned administrative investigator shall conduct an
administrative interview to determine all relevant information.
1. Although this interview should not be unreasonably delayed, care should be taken
to ensure that the officer'(s) physical and psychological needs have been
addressed before commencing the interview.
2. Administrative interview(s) should be recorded by the investigator (the officer may
also record the interview).
3. The officer shall be informed that the interview will be for administrative purposes
only and that the statement cannot be used criminally (Garrity Admonishment).
4. The administrative interview shall be considered part of the officer’s confidential
personnel file.
(d) The Office of Professional Standards shall compile all relevant information and reports
necessary for the Department to determine compliance with applicable policies.
(e) The completed administrative investigation shall be submitted to the Officer Involved
Critical Incident Review Board, which will restrict its findings as to whether there was
compliance with the Department Use of Force Policy.
(f) Any other indications of a potential violation of any policy shall be determined in
accordance with standard disciplinary procedures.
(g) Nothing in this section shall be used to deprive an involved officer of the right to consult
with legal counsel prior to completing any such criminal report.

507.7.7 RELATED CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS
(a) The Department of Public Safety may retain the responsibility for the investigation of
criminal incidents leading up to or otherwise related to the OIGI.
(b) The purposes of these investigations will be to ensure the successful prosecution of
suspects for crimes not directly involved in the OIGI incident.
(c) The investigations bureau will be responsible for conducting criminal investigations that do
not fall under the authority of the OIGI team.

507.7.8 CIVIL LIABILITY INVESTIGATION
(a) An employee of the Department may be assigned to work exclusively under the direction
of the legal counsel for the Department to assist in the preparation of materials deemed
necessary in anticipation of potential civil litigation.
(b) All materials generated in this capacity shall be considered attorney work product and may
not be used for any other purpose. The civil liability investigation is not intended to
interfere with any other investigation aspect of the OIGI investigation.

507.8 MEDIA
(a) All media requests for information concerning an OIGI event shall be coordinated through
the Department Public Information Officer.
(b) If the incident involves an OICI investigation no information regarding the details of such
investigation will be released without consultation with the prosecuting attorney
responsible for the investigation.
(c) A single press release may be prepared with input and concurrence from the agency
representative responsible for each phase of the investigation. The release will be
prepared and distributed by the PIOs office.
(d) It will be the policy of the Department to release the identities of involved officers when
deemed appropriate by the agency executive and OIGI team or as required by law.
Notification to the involved officer(s) shall be made prior to release of information.
(e) Moreover, no involved officer shall be subjected to contact from the media and no involved
officer shall make any comments to the press unless authorized by the Commissioner of
Public Safety.
(f) All media requests and releases of information will be consistent with Department policy
regarding media relations.

507.9 POST CRITICAL INCIDENT STRESS DEBRIEFING
All officers involved, responding to or investigating an OICI shall be given the opportunity to
attend a post critical incident stress debrief. The critical incident debrief will be conducted by a
certified team or coordinator.

507.10 OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
(a) Review of Officer Involved Critical Incident “‘ A review of all Officer Involved Critical
Incidents will be conducted in accordance with the Departments Use of Force Review
policy.
(b) Line of Duty Death “‘ If an officer is killed as a result of an Officer Involved Critical Incident
the section commander will ensure that all requirements are completed as outlined in the
Departments Line of Duty Death policy.

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