Policy Text
Policy Delano Police Department
1030 Delano PD Policy Manual
Line-of-Duty Deaths
1030.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE
The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance to members of the Delano Police Department in
the event of the death of a member occurring in the line of duty and to direct the Department in
providing proper support for the member’s survivors.
The Chief of Police may also apply some or all of this policy in situations where members are
injured in the line of duty and the injuries are life-threatening.
1030.1.1 DEFINITIONS
Definitions related to this policy include:
Line-of-duty death - The death of a sworn member during the course of performing law
enforcement-related functions while on- or off-duty, or a non-sworn member during the course of
performing their assigned duties.
Survivors - Immediate family members of the deceased member, which can include spouse,
children, parents, other next of kin or significant others. The determination of who should be
considered a survivor for purposes of this policy should be made on a case-by-case basis given
the individual’s relationship with the member and whether the individual was previously designated
by the deceased member.
1030.2 POLICY
It is the policy of the Delano Police Department to make appropriate notifications and to provide
assistance and support to survivors and coworkers of a member who dies in the line of duty.
It is also the policy of this department to respect the requests of the survivors when they conflict
with these guidelines, as appropriate.
1030.3 INITIAL ACTIONS BY COMMAND STAFF
(a) Upon learning of a line-of-duty death, the deceased member’s supervisor should
provide all reasonably available information to the Watch Commander and the
Dispatch Center.
1. Communication of information concerning the member and the incident should
be restricted to secure networks to avoid interception by the media or others
(see the Public Information Officer section of this policy).
(b) The Watch Commander should ensure that notifications are made in accordance with
the Officer-Involved Shootings and Deaths and Major Incident Notification policies as
applicable.
(c) If the member has been transported to the hospital, the Watch Commander or the
designee should respond to the hospital to assume temporary responsibilities as the
Hospital Liaison.
Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2019/12/06, All Rights Reserved. Line-of-Duty Deaths - 1
Published with permission by Delano Police Department