Incident investigations applicable to all members of the Department shall be conducted in an impartial and objective manner. The purpose is to disclose and report all facts relevant to the matter, whether or not such facts may be favorable or unfavorable to the individual concerned. The investigator shall investigate any and all exculpatory information they have knowledge of, or become aware of through investigation, and include this information in their documentation to give a complete and accurate account of the incident.
Fact-finding committee members, Internal Affairs Bureau investigators, and unit supervisors act as the direct representative of the Sheriff when they are assigned to investigate incident reports.
Fellow employees of a member under investigation are to be cooperative and impartial when asked for information concerning the incident under investigation.
The employee under investigation shall be informed of the final results of the investigation.
The Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act, Government Code section 3300 through section 3312, declares the rights and protections provided to peace officers, including those rights and protections during an investigation. These rights and protections only apply to full-time sworn personnel. Sworn personnel should review these Government Code sections to know their rights and protections afforded them during an investigation, and personnel conducting the investigations should review these sections to ensure they do not violate any of the rights and protections granted to sworn personnel.
Refer to Volume 3, Chapter 4, "Department Service Reviews, Public Accessibility to Information about the Complaint Process and Personnel Investigations" for procedures specific to this topic.