23-002 Video Review and Advisement
Custody Directive: 23-002 Date: 08/23/2023
Issued for: Custody Operations
VIDEO REVIEW AND ADVISEMENT
PURPOSE
The purpose of this Custody Operations Directive is to codify the force related video review procedures established in Rosas provisions 15.5 and 15.6.
ORDER
Prior to viewing any video recording of a force incident, Department members shall prepare and submit all necessary written reports to the handling sergeant. After the sergeant has reviewed the first reports and any separate supplemental reports of the force incident and concluded that there is no such evidence of apparent misconduct or a failure to make proper notifications, involved Department members shall be provided the opportunity to review the recorded incident for the purposes of refreshing their memory. Once the video recording has been reviewed, personnel will have the opportunity to acknowledge in their report that they observed the video and that it either refreshed their memory, adding any corrective language, or that the original written statements were accurate.
Because Department personnel are required to provide a written account of their actions prior to viewing video recordings, the Department will not assume an adverse inference when personnel amend or supplement their reports if a video review prompts further recollection of incident details. Whether an adverse inference should be drawn from an amendment or supplement will depend upon the facts and circumstances in each case.
Any review of a recording by a Department member shall be documented in their reports and should not be undertaken in the presence of another Department member who was either involved in, or a witness to, the force incident. Should the review enable a Department member to provide greater clarity to any incident based upon additional recollection or perception of specific actions, the member shall either amend their initial report, or prepare a separate supplemental report. Any additional information should be added with transitional language such as, “After reviewing video of the incident, additional details are noted as follows…”
Prior to reviewing any video recording, Department members shall read the following advisement, as established in Manual of Policies and Procedures section 3-10/115.00, “Video Review and Advisement”:
VIDEO ADVISEMENT
You are about to view a video recording. It is important to understand that while this recording depicts visual information from the scene, the human eye and brain could perceive some things in stressful situations differently than a camera records them, so this photographic record may not reflect how the involved personnel actually perceived the event.
The recording may depict things that personnel did not see or hear. Personnel may have seen or heard things that were not recorded by the camera. Depending on the speed of the camera, some action elements may not have been recorded or may have happened faster than personnel could perceive and absorb them. The camera has captured a 2-dimensional image, which may be different from a person’s 3-dimensional observations. Lighting and angles may also have contributed to different perceptions.
This recording is being shown in order to facilitate recollection of the incident. Video images are only one piece of evidence to be considered in reconstructing and evaluating the totality of the circumstances. Some elements may require further exploration and explanation before the investigation is concluded.
ADDITIONAL ADVISEMENT TO PERSONNEL INVOLVED IN RECORDED INCIDENT:
If the video appears to show some details of the incident differently from what you recall, you should note those differences in your report.
This directive shall remain in effect until a revision to the Custody Division Manual delineating these procedures is formally approved and distributed to Custody Services Division personnel.
Questions regarding this directive should be directed to Custody Support Services Bureau[REDACTED TEXT].