LANCASTER STATION
UNIT ORDER # 70
REPORT DEFERRAL POLICY
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this unit order is to establish procedures regarding the process of personnel deferring the completion of incident reports. This unit order will also outline the supervisor’s responsibilities for ensuring this order is adhered to.
SCOPE:
This directive applies to all personnel who author incident reports and/or supervise those personnel.
ORDER:
All reports which are not submitted during the deputy’s assigned shift, shall require the watch sergeant’s approval before the report is to be deferred. If the deputy needs to remain beyond their assigned shift to complete an incident report, the deputy will receive prior approval from the on duty watch commander. The approval must be obtained before the end of the deputy’s shift, and before any overtime hours are accrued.
When deferring an incident report, personnel shall complete the face page of the incident report and write “deferred” diagonally across the page. The approving watch sergeant’s name and the due date shall also be included on the face page. The face page will be placed on the deferral board on the watch sergeant’s desk. Personnel will submit a completed incident report on the date agreed upon with the approving watch sergeant. If the deferred report is an “in-custody,” the submitting deputy will remain at work until the report has been approved.
The on-duty watch sergeant shall check the deferral board to ensure previously deferred reports have been submitted. All shift sergeants will maintain a current “Missing Report” list and ensure the deputies assigned to his/her shift are in compliance or actively working on submitting any overdue reports. The shift sergeants will work together documenting all requests made to deputies who have overdue reports.
Any employee who fails to comply with the established report deferral process and/or fails to submit a missing report in a timely manner will receive a Performance Log Entry for the first violation. Further violations may lead to a formal investigation, resulting in potential discipline.
All watch commanders will monitor the “Missing Report” list and ensure the shift sergeants are proactively monitoring the timely submission of all incident reports. All watch commanders are ultimately responsible for their assigned shift. Any sergeant failing to properly supervise their personnel and the work product submitted during their assigned shift will receive a Performance Log Entry for the first violation and potentially face disciplinary actions for additional violations.
The secretarial staff will be directed to immediately take all rejected reports to the watch sergeant for correction, eliminating the lengthy delay of processing the report.