Policy Text
Policy
1042Fremont Police Department
Line-of-Duty Deaths
1042.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE
The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance to members of the Fremont 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 for a non-line-of-duty member death,
or in situations where members are injured in the line of duty and the injuries are life-threatening.
The application of this policy shall be consistent with the standards and guidelines established by
the Officer Down Memorial Page and the California Peace Officers' Memorial Foundation.
1042.1.1 DEFINITIONS
Definitions related to this policy include:
Line-of-duty death - The death of an officer during the course of performing law enforcement-
related functions while on- or off-duty, or a civilian member during the course of performing
assigned duties.
For an officer, a line-of-duty death includes death that is the direct and proximate result of a
personal injury sustained in the line of duty (34 USC § 10281).
A line-of-duty death does not include deaths resulting from suicide, voluntary intoxication, gross
negligence by the officer, misconduct, off-duty incidents unrelated to official duties (such as
commuting or personal travel in a private vehicle), or deaths occurring while employed in
non-public-law-enforcement roles such as military peacekeeping, private security, or contracted
positions.
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.
1042.2 POLICY
It is the policy of the Fremont 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.
1042.3 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
Communications Unit.
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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 Press 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 authorized designee should respond to the hospital to assume temporary
responsibilities as the Hospital Liaison.
(d)The Chief of Police or the authorized designee should assign members to handle
survivor notifications and assign members to the roles of Hospital Liaison (to relieve
the temporary Hospital Liaison) and the Department Liaison as soon as practicable
(see the Notifying Survivors section and the Department Liaison and Hospital Liaison
subsections in this policy).
1042.4 NOTIFYING SURVIVORS
Survivors should be notified as soon as possible in order to avoid the survivors hearing about the
incident in other ways.
The Chief of Police or the authorized designee should review the deceased member's emergency
contact information and make accommodations to respect the member's wishes and instructions
specific to notifying survivors. However, notification should not be excessively delayed because
of attempts to assemble a notification team in accordance with the member's wishes.
The Chief of Police, Watch Commander, or the authorized designee should select at least two
members to conduct notification of survivors, one of which may be the Department chaplain.
Notifying members should:
(a)Make notifications in a direct and compassionate manner, communicating as many
facts of the incident as possible, including the current location of the member.
Information that is not verified should not be provided until an investigation has been
completed.
(b)Determine the method of notifying surviving children by consulting with other survivors
and taking into account factors such as the child's age, maturity, and current location
(e.g., small children at home, children in school).
(c)Plan for concerns such as known health concerns of survivors or language barriers.
(d)Offer to transport survivors to the hospital, if appropriate. Survivors should be
transported in department vehicles. Notifying members shall inform the Hospital
Liaison over a secure network that the survivors are on their way to the hospital.
Notifying members should remain at the hospital while the survivors are present.
(e)When survivors are not at their residences or known places of employment, actively
seek information and follow leads from neighbors, other law enforcement, postal
authorities, and other sources of information in order to accomplish notification in as
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timely a fashion as possible. Notifying members shall not disclose the reason for their
contact other than a family emergency.
(f)If making notification at a survivor's workplace, ask a workplace supervisor for the
use of a quiet, private room to