Policy Text
Policy
419San Luis Obispo Police Department
San Luis Obispo PD CA Policy Manual
Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2025/07/01, All Rights Reserved.
Published with permission by San Luis Obispo Police
DepartmentCriminal Organizations - 1Criminal Organizations
419.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE
The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the San Luis Obispo Police Department appropriately
utilizes criminal intelligence systems and temporary information files to support investigations of
criminal organizations and enterprises.
419.1.1 DEFINITIONS
Definitions related to this policy include:
Criminal intelligence system - Any record system that receives, stores, exchanges or
disseminates information that has been evaluated and determined to be relevant to the
identification of a criminal organization or enterprise, its members or affiliates. This does not
include temporary information files.
419.2 POLICY
The San Luis Obispo Police Department recognizes that certain criminal activities, including but
not limited to gang crimes and drug trafficking, often involve some degree of regular coordination
and may involve a large number of participants over a broad geographical area.
It is the policy of this department to collect and share relevant information while respecting the
privacy and legal rights of the public.
419.3 CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS
No department member may create, submit to or obtain information from a criminal intelligence
system unless the Chief of Police has approved the system for department use.
Any criminal intelligence system approved for department use should meet or exceed the
standards of 28 CFR 23.20.
A designated supervisor will be responsible for maintaining each criminal intelligence system that
has been approved for department use. The supervisor or the authorized designee should ensure
the following:
(a)Members using any such system are appropriately selected and trained.
(b)Use of every criminal intelligence system is appropriately reviewed and audited.
(c)Any system security issues are reasonably addressed.
419.3.1 SYSTEM ENTRIES
It is the designated supervisor’s responsibility to approve the entry of any information from a
report, field interview (FI), photo or other relevant document into an authorized criminal intelligence
system. If entries are made based upon information that is not on file with this department, such as
open or public source documents or documents that are on file at another agency, the designated
supervisor should ensure copies of those documents are retained by the Records Bureau. Any
San Luis Obispo Police Department
San Luis Obispo PD CA Policy Manual
Criminal Organizations
Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2025/07/01, All Rights Reserved.
Published with permission by San Luis Obispo Police
DepartmentCriminal Organizations - 2supporting documentation for an entry shall be retained by the Records Bureau in accordance
with the established records retention schedule and for at least as long as the entry is maintained
in the system.
The designated supervisor should ensure that any documents retained by the Records Bureau
are appropriately marked as intelligence information. The Records Supervisor may not purge such
documents without the approval of the designated supervisor.
419.3.2 GANG DATABASES
The Chief of Police may approve participation by the gang unit in a shared criminal gang
intelligence database, such as CALGANG®. Members must obtain the requisite training before
accessing any such database (11 CCR 751.6).
It is the gang unit supervisor’s responsibility to determine whether any report or FI contains
information that would qualify for entry into the database. Prior to designating any person as
a suspected gang member, associate, or affiliate in a shared gang database; or submitting a
document to the Attorney General’s office for the purpose of designating a person in a shared
gang database; or otherwise identifying the person in a shared gang database, the gang unit
supervisor shall provide written notice to the person and, if the person is under the age of 18, to
his/her parent or guardian of the designation and the basis for the designation, unless providing
that notification would compromise an active criminal investigation or compromise the health or
safety of a minor. Notice shall also describe the process to contest the designation (Penal Code
§ 186.34).
The person, an attorney working on his/her behalf, or his/her parent or guardian (if the person is
under 18 years of age) may request, in writing, information as to whether the person is designated
as a suspected gang member, associate, or affiliate in a shared gang database accessible by the
Department, the basis for that designation, and the name of the agency that made the designation.
The Department shall respond to a valid request in writing within 30 days, and shall provide the
information requested unless doing so would compromise an active investigation or compromise
the health and safety of the person if he/she is under 18 years of age (Penal Code § 186.34).
The person, or his/her parent or guardian if the person is under 18 years of age, may contest
the designation by submitting written documentation, which shall be reviewed by the gang unit
supervisor. If it is determined that the person is not a suspected gang member, associate, or
affiliate, the person shall be removed from the database. The person and the parent or guardian
shall be provided written verification of the department’s decision within 30 days of receipt of the
written documentation contesting the designation and shall include the reason for a denial when
applicable (Penal Code § 186.34).
The gang unit supervisor should forward reports or FIs to the Records Bureau after appropriate
database entries are made. The supervisor should clearly mark the report/FI as gang intelligence
information.
San Luis Obispo Police Department
San Luis Obispo PD CA Policy Manual
Criminal Organizations
Copyright Lexip