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Procedure 6013Santa Ana Police Department Santa Ana PD Procedures Manual Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2022/07/20, All Rights Reserved. Published with permission by Santa Ana Police DepartmentCASE CLEARING CRITERIA - 1CASE CLEARING CRITERIA 6013.1 PURPOSE This procedure clarifies guidelines established by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to be used by detectives and investigators when clearing cases. 6013.2 CASE CLASSIFICATIONS 6013.2.1 CLEARED BY ARREST Cases may be cleared in this manner if at least one of the suspects in the case has been arrested, or in the case of juveniles, a petition has been filed. It does not matter if the District Attorney files the case or not. In the event that a subject is released prior to booking pursuant to section 849(b) (1) of the California Penal Code, then the case should not be closed in this fashion. 6013.2.2 EXCEPTIONALLY CLEARED Cases may be cleared in this fashion only under a very narrow set of circumstances. There must be sufficient evidence available (probable cause) to justify the arrest of the suspect while at the same time the detective or investigator is precluded from making the arrest and/or prosecuting the suspect due to one of the following reasons: 1.The suspect is deceased. 2.The suspect is located in a state and/or country from which the local jurisdiction will not extradite. 3.The victim in the case refuses to assist with the prosecution and the District Attorney's Office will not file a complaint due to this refusal. 4.The detective/investigator has confidently identified a person as the suspect and has probable cause to arrest, but the District Attorney's Office refuses to issue a warrant or filing "in the interest of justice," "no jury appeal," or similar reasoning. (NOTE: By definition, cases refused by the DA for "insufficient evidence" do NOT qualify as exceptionally cleared.) Absent additional evidence, such as a confession, cases cannot be exceptionally cleared simply on the basis of MO, circumstantial evidence or hunches. 6013.2.3 UNFOUNDED A case shall be considered unfounded in any of the following situations: 1.The detective/investigator determines that the facts as alleged do not amount to a crime. 2.The detective/investigator determines that the facts as alleged constitute a crime, but the incident occurred in another jurisdiction. 3.The detective/investigator determines that the facts as alleged amount to a crime, but one that is less in severity than reported. For example, during a robbery investigation it is determined that only the elements of a grand theft are present. The robbery should be unfounded and downgraded. Santa Ana Police Department Santa Ana PD Procedures Manual CASE CLEARING CRITERIA Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2022/07/20, All Rights Reserved. Published with permission by Santa Ana Police DepartmentCASE CLEARING CRITERIA - 2EXAMPLE : ATTENTION RECORDS: ROBBERY UNFOUNDED, DOWNGRADE TO GRAND THEFT. 6013.2.4 CLOSED - OTHER If all available leads on a case have been exhausted, a case may be closed. Cases closed for any other reason than listed above are considered "unsolved." Cases may be closed for any of the below listed reasons: 1.Unable to Locate the Victim – Before a case is closed in this fashion, a detective/ investigator should attempt to locate a valid address or phone number for this victim through available investigative resources including the DMV and Records. 2.Non-Response by Victim – A case should be closed in this fashion when the victim's address is known, but he/she refuses to reply to phone messages and/or letter. 3.Victim Refuses Prosecution – This closure method may be used when a victim states that he/she is not desirous of prosecution and will not further cooperate with the investigation. (NOTE: If the suspect has been identified, the case may qualify for clearance by exceptional means. See above.) 6013.3 REPORTING REQUIREMENTS 6013.3.1 SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT REQUIREMENT All cases assigned to a detective/investigator shall remain open until resolved by one of the methods described above. The assigned detective/investigator upon closing the case shall complete a supplemental report and/or a Case Clearance report in the Records Management System (RMS). This report shall state clearly at the bottom the method used to close the case. Alternatively, detectives/investigators may conclude their narratives with a sentence explaining the closure method. This sentence shall be bolded with capitalized text and made to the attention of Records. EXAMPLE : ATTENTION RECORDS: CASE CLEARED BY ARREST 6013.3.2 REPORT REVIEW All closed cases shall be reviewed by a supervisor. The supervisor shall have access to the entire case file at the time of review to ensure that appropriate investigative procedures were followed throughout the investigation.