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E.P.P. 065 LONGWOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT ENFORCEMENT POLICY & PROCEDURE NUMBER: EPP – 65 SUBJECT: ONLINE REPORTING SYSTEM EFFECTIVE: JANUARY 1, 2023 REVISED: ENFORCEMENT POLICY AND PROCEDURE ONLINE REPORTING SYSTEM EPP – 65 Page 1 of 5 I. PURPOSE: The purpose of this policy is to establish guidelines and procedures to determine when the LexisNexis Desk Officer Reporting System (DORS) will be used. II. SCOPE: It is the policy of the Longwood Police Department to provide citizens with the option of reporting certain incidents and/or violations of Florida law via DORS, accessible on the Longwood Police Department public website. III. DEFINITIONS: A. E-Report: A report initiated by a citizen in the LexisNexis Desk Officer Reporting System (DORS). This is an online self-reporting system that is designed to provide an additional resource for citizens to report specific crimes for which there are no known suspects. This method will still allow for the reporting of the incident while recording and collecting reportable data for additional investigation, statistical analysis and state reporting requirements. B. Temporary Case Number: A case number issued by DORS that is provided to the citizen upon completion of the report and is also sent by e-mail if an e-mail address is provided. This number is replaced by a permanent case number once the report is reviewed and approved. C. Permanent Case Number: ENFORCEMENT POLICY AND PROCEDURE ONLINE REPORTING SYSTEM EPP – 65 Page 2 of 5 A Longwood Police Department case number that is issued once a DORS report has been reviewed and approved. Rejected or deleted e-reports reports will not have a permanent case number but the information submitted by the citizen will be retained in a .pdf document in MS Outlook in mailbox: OnlineAccountability@longwoodfl.org. D. Pending E-Reports: E-reports that require additional information or clarification may be placed in a pending status provided the reporter has given an email address. E. Rejected E-Reports: Reports that do not meet the requirements for being reported online or are fraudulent, occurred outside the jurisdiction of the City of Longwood, or have insufficient information may be rejected. These reports cannot be found in Café, but the information submitted by the citizen is retained in a .pdf document in Outlook and can be reviewed at any time. F. Quick Connect Text Service: Allows non-emergency inbound calls to be routed to DORS web application by sending a text message to the caller with a link to the Longwood DORS. IV. PROCEDURES: A. GENERAL GUIDELINES Longwood Police Department will respond to in-progress incidents and all crimes with evidence or information which may lead to the identity of a suspect and his/her apprehension, or if the incident just occurred and there is a likelihood the suspect may still be in the area. The following crimes and reports may be referred to the DORS as long as the reporter is at least 18 years old and there is no suspect information available: 1. All petit thefts, excluding firearms and materials threatening to public safety, i.e., explosives or highly toxic substances (OR report); 2. Missing/lost property (CJ report); 3. Criminal mischief to public or private property including damage to a motor vehicle without suspect information (OR report); 4. Identity theft (OR report); ENFORCEMENT POLICY AND PROCEDURE ONLINE REPORTING SYSTEM EPP – 65 Page 3 of 5 5. Financial Crimes (OR report); 6. Harassing phone calls (OR or CJIS report); 7. House watch requests (AP report); 8. Neighborhood complaints (CJIS report or temporary report number sent to patrol supervisors); 9. Electronic tips (temporary report number); 10. Traffic complaints (AP report or temporary report number sent to patrol supervisor); 11. A supplement report for additional stolen property (temporary report number). B. SUPERVISOR APPROVAL RESPONSIBILITIES: 1. Patrol supervisors will be responsible for all e-reports submitted during their shift. Each supervisor shall be responsible for reviewing, approving, and assigning reports by the end of their assigned shift. Each case needs to be checked for accuracy of statute and UCR before approving. 2. Each patrol supervisor shall assign the reports that are received during their shift to the corresponding zone patrol officer on the same shift. If the report needs to be assigned to a different division, the supervisor shall assign it to the appropriate officer/division. 3. If the citizen report is misclassified, such as vandalism instead of an auto burglary, the patrol supervisor will classify the report according to the elements of the offense described by the citizen author. The patrol supervisor will refrain from making grammatical corrections to citizens’ reports. If the supervisor determines the report was misclassified, it may be modified to fit the most appropriate section. Any changes made by the reviewer are tracked in the system. 4. If the citizen is reporting an incident that meets the on-line reporting criteria, but it occurred in another jurisdiction and the citizen is a resident of our jurisdiction, the report may be re-classified as an outside assist and approved. The case will be assigned to the appropriate investigative unit. 5. If there is a question as to the report’s content, in lieu of rejecting the e- report, the reviewer shall attempt to contact the reporting citizen by ENFORCEMENT POLICY AND PROCEDURE ONLINE REPORTING SYSTEM EPP – 65 Page 4 of 5 telephone or e-mail to clarify. Changes to the original report will be made by sending the report back to the reporter or accepting the report and initiating a supplemental narrative in Café. 6. If the patrol supervisor rejects a report, the reason for rejection will be appropriately and professionally noted in the rejection box, which is sent via e-mail to the citizen and a duplicate to the designated Outlook mailbox. 7. The patrol supervisor shall request an officer respond when, in the reasonable judgment of the supervisor, circumstances indicate an investigation is warranted. In this circumstance, a rejection should be sent to the citizen and the supervisor will state in the rejection box that an in-person response by an officer has been initiated. The supervisor will provide the responding officer with the temporary case number, which must be documented in the new event screen and referred to in the Café report initiated by the officer. This will be followed by attempting telephone contact with the citizen to coordinate the appropriate response. 8. Reviewers will select the pending tab (generating an email to the reporter) and request the needed information or clarification. This will enable the reporter to reopen the report, include the required information and re-submit the report. In cases where there is no email provided this will be done via telephone. C. EMPLOYEE RESPONSIBILITY WHEN ASSIGNED AN E-REPORT 1. Once a report is assigned, the investigating officer will follow all established protocols for following-up on the reported incident. This includes obtaining a sworn written statement from the victim before taking any formal enforcement action, such as a capias, arrest, NTA, and/or an arrest warrant. 2. If property serial numbers are included in the initial report, the reporting officer must provide that information to the Communications Division in order to enter all property into the FCIC/NCIC database. 3. If assigned to respond in person to an incident initially reported via DORS but was rejected due to not meeting the online reporting criteria, the responding officer will document the temporary case number from DORS in the event notes in MICAD and in the Café report for the incident. ENFORCEMENT POLICY AND PROCEDURE ONLINE REPORTING SYSTEM EPP – 65 Page 5 of 5 D. PATROL LIEUTENANT RESPONSIBILITIES 1. As a measure of quality assurance, the Patrol Lieutenant or their designee will review the E-Reports queue to ensure reports are being reviewed in a timely manner and notify the appropriate supervisor of any pending reports that have not been reviewed. V. RECORDS RETENTION AND RETRIEVAL A. Approved Reports Approved reports can be found in Café by entering the temporary case number into the “Event Num” field. B. Rejected Reports Rejected or deleted reports will have a temporary case number and the information submitted by the citizen will be retained in a .pdf document in Outlook.