NCJ Number
124670
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 58 Issue: 6 Dated: (June 1990) Pages: 40-41,43-44
Date Published
1990
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The Six-Layered Liability Protection System for police departments combines six components -- policies and procedures, training, supervision, discipline, review and revision, and legal support and services.
Abstract
Policies and procedures must provide for all foreseeable field incidents that officers will confront. Written administrative guidance should cover all high-risk/critical tasks as police chiefs can be held liable in situations where there are no written directives. Departments should hold training sessions for officers on their policies and procedures. There should also be at least one in-service training session a year to review specific legal issues. Supervisory training should be pre- and postpromotional, occur at least biannually, include relevant hypoethetical incidents, be agency-wide, include performance evaluation criteria, and emphasize liability management. Discipline naturally follows the proper implementation of policy establishment, officers training, and supervisory training. Policy review and revision must be conducted continually by taking into account new legislation as well as management information related to citizen complaints, disciplinary cases, claims and lawsuits, research, and court decisions. Legal counsel for small departments can be obtained through resource-sharing and insurance pools, while larger departments should try to retain their own counsel.