Critical Incident Reports

The Protocol is a comprehensive and detailed directive of how to conduct a Critical Incident investigation.

For each incident, an administrative and criminal investigation were conducted.

The Grand Jury did not review the findings of the administrative investigations, which are internal to the agencies and are not part of the Critical Incident Report. 7

The Protocol requires investigations be conducted “free of conflicts of interest.” In addition, the District Attorney’s Office participates in the investigations and has the authority to investigate separately.

Upon completion of the criminal investigations, the District Attorney reviewed the evidence, including photographs and transcribed interviews of witnesses.

Based on the evidence, the District Attorney reached his conclusion and issued a Critical Incident Report. In each incident, the District Attorney concluded that no criminal laws were broken by the officers involved.

Last year’s Grand Jury recommended that “Each Critical Incident Report should describe the nature of participation by the District Attorney’s Office in the investigation of the incident.” The District Attorney’s response indicated that “…the District Attorney’s Office will include in each Critical Incident Report done by the District Attorney’s Office a description of the District Attorney’s participation in the investigation of the incident.” These reports still do not indicate the level of participation by the District Attorney’s Office. Conclusions Each of the three Critical Incident Reports reflects compliance with the protocol. The Grand Jury agrees with findings of the District Attorney. The three reports did not describe the District Attorney’s participation in the investigation of the incidents.