Policy 450 - Use of Digital Audio Recorders (DAR) - City of Anaheim

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Use of Digital Audio Recorders (DAR) Anaheim Police Department Policy Manual Field Training Officers who are wearing civilian clothing during the "shadow phase" are not required to wear a recorder, but may do so if they wish. However, they are still responsible for ensuring that their assigned trainee is recording all contacts. 450.4 ACTIVATION OF THE AUDIO RECORDER All enforcement and investigative contacts, as well as all contacts specifically related to a call for service by uniformed personnel both sworn and non-sworn, will be recorded. This includes but is not limited to: all traffic stops; victim, suspect and witness interviews; and other citizen contacts related to calls for service. Penal Code § 632 prohibits an individual from surreptitiously recording a conversation in which any party to the conversation has a reasonable belief that the conversation is private or confidential, however Penal Code § 633 expressly exempts law enforcement from this prohibition during the course of a criminal investigation. (a) No member of this department may surreptitiously record a conversation of any other member of this department without the express knowledge and consent of all parties. Nothing in this section is intended to interfere with an officer's right to openly record any interrogation pursuant to Government Code § 3303(g). (b) Any member of this department may surreptitiously record any conversation during the course of a criminal investigation if the officer reasonably believes that such a recording will be beneficial to the investigation. 1. For the purpose of this policy, any officer contacting an individual suspected of violating any law or during the course of any official law enforcement related activity shall be presumed to be engaged in a criminal investigation. This presumption shall not apply to contacts with other employees conducted solely for administrative purposes. At no time should a Department employee jeopardize his/her safety in order to activate a DAR or change the recording media. Employees are prohibited from utilizing department issued DARs and recording media for personal use. 450.4.1 STATEMENTS AND REPORTING All victim, witness and suspect statements recorded and included in a report shall be identified as such for future use. (a) To assist in future retrieval of a statement in the event it is needed for prosecution purposes, report narratives shall include: 1. whether a statement was recorded; 2. whether that statement was downloaded as evidence; 3. by whom it was recorded; and 4. time and date of the recording. (b) Whenever any employee believes a particular contact may lead to a citizen complaint, he/she should bring the contact to the attention of his/her immediate supervisor or the Bureau/ Watch Commander. Adopted: 2013/05/13 © 1995-2013 Lexipol, LLC Use of Digital Audio Recorders (DAR) - 290
Use of Digital Audio Recorders (DAR) Anaheim Police Department Policy Manual 450.5 RETENTION OF RECORDING MEDIA Whenever a Department employee records any portion of a contact which could constitute evidence in a criminal case, the employee will mark the recording as evidence in the Puma System. The officer will also enter the related case number (GO#) along with the employee's current detail/assignment, and download the digital recording into the digital database. For those contacts which do not constitute evidence in a criminal matter, but the employee wishes to identify a particular contact, he or she should use the "Notes" section in Puma and include the date and time of the contact in question. Recorded media placed into Evidence shall be retained through the final disposition of the related criminal case. All files other than those designated as Evidence will be purged after two (2) years. Regardless of the date of the disposition of the criminal case, no file(s) will be purged sooner than two (2) years from the date of the recording. The Records Administrator will oversee the retention of all DAR recordings and ensure there is no pending litigation prior to the purging of recordings. 450.6 REVIEW OF RECORDED MEDIA FILES Recorded files may be reviewed in any of the following situations and by the following personnel: (a) Except as prohibited under 450.6(i) below: 1. By the employee(s) who originally recorded the incident. 2. If multiple officers or employees are involved in an incident, the recording(s) of that incident can be made available to those officers / employees; (b) By a supervisor investigating specific conduct of a department employee; (c) By a supervisor / manager for audit/inspection purposes; (d) By members of the City Attorney's office in connection with pending litigation; (e) Upon approval by a supervisor / manager, by a Department employee who is conducting an official investigation such as a personnel, administrative or criminal investigation; (f) Pursuant to lawful process or by court personnel otherwise authorized to review evidence in a related case; (g) The Chief of Police or his / her authorized designee may make a recording available to the media; (h) Third party investigations: In the event a third party law enforcement agency (e.g. Orange County District Attorney's Office) is conducting a criminal investigation related to an incident involving a Department employee, recordings may be made available to that agency. (i) The Chief of Police or his / her designee may prohibit the review of any recordings by Department employees. 450.7 DAR RECORDINGS STORAGE & INTEGRITY (a) Only authorized users may transfer or copy recordings onto any third party media storage device. Examples of a third party media storage device include but are not limited to: Compact Disc; floppy disk; portable hard drives; memory sticks; thumb-drives; DVD, or other electronic media device. (b) No files shall be transferred or sent via email. Adopted: 2013/05/13 © 1995-2013 Lexipol, LLC Use of Digital Audio Recorders (DAR) - 291
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Policy 450 - Use of Digital Audio Recorders (DAR) - City of Anaheim

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