Policy Text
DEPARTMENTAL GENERAL ORDER E-7 Index as: Probable Cause Declaration
Effective Date:
15 Jul 11
Evaluation Coordinator:
BFO Administrative Divison Commander
Evaluation Due Date:
16 Jan 12
Automatic Revision Cycle:
3 Years
Page 1 of 5
PROBABLE CAUSE DECLARATION
The purpose of this order is to set forth Department policy and procedures for the
completion of Probable Cause Declarations using the eProcess application in the
Consolidated Records Inform ation Management System (C RIMS) to ensure compliance
with California Penal Code Section 964.
I. PROBABLE CAUSE DECLARATION
A Probable Cause Declaration (PCD) provi des a brief synopsis containing factual
and conclusion statements of the incident to support the arrest or the probable
cause for an arrest submitted for a complaint with the Di strict Attorney's Office
or Juvenile Probation. PCDs are completed and submitted for judicial re view under the following
circumstances and classified as one of the following: A. Daily
1. Whenever an adult arrestee will be charged and brought before a
magistrate within 48 h ours of arrest; or
2. Whenever a juvenile offender is to be delivered to Juvenile Hall for
Booking.
B. Holdover A Holdover PCD is streamlined to in clude essential facts necessary to
alert the judicial officer as to the reason for detention.
Whenever an adult arrestee is not to be charged and seen by a magistrate
within 48 hours of arrest (due to weekend/holiday).
DEPARTMENTAL GENERAL ORDER E-7 Effective Date:
15 Jul 11 OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT
C. Out of Custody (Request for Complaint)
When no person is in custody and a request for complaint is to be
presented for charging to the District Attorney’s Office (adult) or Juvenile Probation (juvenile).
II. POLICY
A. A PCD shall be prepared using the “ePr ocess” application tab in CRIMS.
B. A PCD is not required if the arrest is for a warrant only; however, an appropriate PCD shall be completed when a new charge accompanies a
warrant arrest.
C. A PCD shall be prepared by an arresting officer.
D. Supervisors shall review and endor se all required PCDs submitted by
subordinates.
E. In the event of the CRIMS database or other system has failed preventing
access to CRIMS, members shall utilize the paper Probable Cause Declaration (TF-2080).
F. In the event of a comp lete CRIMS database or other system failure
causing a delay which would prevent th e On-Call Judge from reviewing a
Holdover PCD within the required 48 hours of arrest, the arresting
member shall prepare a PC D form and deposit the form at the designated
receptacle at the PAB or Eastmont Pa trol Desk. A designee shall contact
the On-Call Judge to ma ke arrangements for the PCD review between the
hours of 0800–1700 unless circ umstances prevent the review at this time.
G. PCDs for anticipated mass arrest incidents require:
1. The preparation of paper PCD fo rms when CRIMS PC Declaration
is not practical.
2. Prior special arrangements with th e On-Call Judge for delivery of
PCDs.
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DEPARTMENTAL GENERAL ORDER E-7 Effective Date:
15 Jul 11 OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT
III. RESPONSIBILITIES
A. Member
The PCD can be recalled and correct ed anytime prior to the Judge’s
finding of probable cause. Example : If a Holdover is approved by a su pervisor and sent to a Judge
for review and the arrestee is later re leased from Santa Rita Jail on either
a citation or bail, the PCD can be r ecalled from the Judge and changed to
a Daily.
B. Supervisors 1. Supervisors shall review all pe nding subordinate PCDs in the
supervisory queue with in 12 hours of arrest
1 to ensure
completeness, the correct clas sification, and the necessary
information is in the PCD Narrative.
2. Supervisors shall approv e, append, or return the PCD to the author
for correction.
C. Investigative Follow-Up Investigators may print additional PCD copies and include them with the
investigative file being submitted for charging to the District Attorney’s
Office or Juvenile Probation.
D. Supervisor Follow-Up 1. Supervisors are responsible fo r monitoring pending Holdover
PCDs to ensure the On-Call J udge issues a finding on the PCD
within 48 hours of the suspect’s arrest.
2
1 The court requests this to be done within the fi rst 12 hours of the arrest to allow enough time for the
court to review the PCD.
2 The online PCD system has an early warning in place advising law enforcement agencies of the impending
expiration of an unapproved Holdover PCD. Supervisors may call the On-Call Judge up to 10 PM alerting
them of soon-to-expire Holdover PCD.
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DEPARTMENTAL GENERAL ORDER
OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT E-7 Effective Date:
15 Jul 11
Page 4 of 4 2. In the event the On-C all Judge denies the PCD, the arresting
officer and ALL supervisors will be notified of the denial via
email. The immediate supervisor sh all contact the On-Call Judge as
soon as possible to discuss th e reason(s) for the denial.
a