56303732.pdf

\n\n--- Page 1 ---\n\nSEMINOLE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE NUMBER: G - 65 GENERAL ORDER RESCINDS: E - 45 SUBJECT: Communications and Electronic Systems EFFECTIVE: April 10, 2000 REVISED: November 7, 2023 Table of Contents: I. Purpose II. Scope III. Automated Vehicle Locator IV. Mobile Computer Terminals V. Communications and Related Procedures VI. Hazard and Information Screens VII. Tornado Watches/Warnings for Seminole County I. PURPOSE: This directive provides procedures for conducting Sheriff's Office communications, including the use of Mobile Computer Terminals (MCT), and Automated Vehicle Locator (AVL) systems. II. SCOPE: Employees must also reference the General Order Information Systems and Services. III. AUTOMATED VEHICLE LOCATOR: A. Marked vehicles equipped with Mobile Computer Terminals and Automated Vehicle Locator (AVL) systems shall be connected at all times while units are working in their vehicles, enroute to calls, utilizing their vehicles at off duty details according to policy, or driving their issued Sheriff’s Office vehicle in an off-duty capacity. Employees with MCT equipped vehicles will be logged into MiCAD under those same situations in order to facilitate proper AVL communication to the Sheriff’s Office information systems (Ex: Sherlock). B. Employees shall not intentionally cause the interruption of AVL equipment through purposeful acts of negligence or inattention. Any employee found to engage in such purposeful acts with intent to deceive the AVL system in order to avoid detection, will be subject to disciplinary action. C. If an employee’s assignment would be adversely affected by having location information published, the employee’s supervisor may authorize the disabling of the AVL system for as long as necessary to complete the assignment. Officer safety should take priority in the decision making process before disabling the AVL system for an approved reason. At the conclusion of the approved assignment, the GENERAL ORDER Communications and Electronic Systems GO # G - 65 PAGE 1 OF 9\n\n--- Page 2 ---\n\nAVL function shall be promptly reactivated to normal operations. Employees must keep the AVL system active when driving to and from their home address until the vehicle is no longer in use (on-duty or off-duty). NOTE: AVL records or GPS coordinates are exempt from public record, and therefore, employees’ home address will not be released under any circumstances to the public. D. Employees will immediately notify a supervisor if their AVL is not functioning properly or if they will be disconnected for long periods of time. At the beginning of each shift, supervisors will confirm that the AVL system for each of the employees in their command is working properly by comparing MiCad unit information and visual Sherlock AVL information, and as soon as practical, supervisors will address those that are not in compliance or experiencing technical difficulties. E. Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) coordinates captured through the use of AVL will be stored for four years from the date of capture then purged. IV. MOBILE COMPUTER TERMINALS: NOTE: A call in which officer safety is an issue requires the use of voice transmission. A. If available, employees are required to use mobile computer terminals (MCT) to improve the efficiency of investigations, to reduce radio air time, and to relieve Communications of unnecessary tasks. B. Offense Reports will be submitted electronically. C. MCTs provide rapid access to most computer aided dispatch functions. D. Routine calls for service are dispatched through MCTs. E. Employees are to conduct routine business on MCTs unless there is a safety concern. F. Mobile Computer Terminals provide: 1. Direct access to CAD information, 2. Instant inquiries to NCIC/FCIC, 3. Communication with Telecommunicators, Deputies and Field Service Officers, 4. Preparation and transmission of reports for supervisory review, and 5. Access to the Jail Management System containing photographic images. G. Equipment: MCTs are equipped with the following accessories: antenna (1 portable, 1 fixed), power supply (1 a/c charger, 1 d/c charger/adapter), and rechargeable battery. H. Accountability: Employees issued an MCT are responsible for its proper use and for maintaining it and its accessories in a state of operational readiness. Supervisors are accountable for MCTs issued to their personnel. I. Computer-Aided Dispatch and the Mobile Computer Terminal: 1. Urgent and priority calls for service are dispatched by both voice transmission and MCT. Although AVL may help with identifying resources to respond to calls for service it will not be the sole means to determine which unit is closest. Normal XCAD protocols will be used to dispatch a unit to a call. Employees acknowledge calls with voice transmissions. When arriving at an urgent or priority call, acknowledgement is made by voice transmission. MCTs are used to GENERAL ORDER Communications and Electronic Systems G-65 PAGE 2 OF 9\n\n--- Page 3 ---\n\nobtain information pertaining to the call unless circumstances require voice transmission for clarification. 2. Employees acknowledge their arrival and clearance from routine calls via their MCTs, which are used to obtain information for filing reports (case and CJIS numbers, occurrence and arrival times, etc.). 3. Calls dispatched simultaneously by voice transmission and MCT include: a. Commercial and residential alarms (Deputies acknowledge their arrival and clearance by voice transmission), b. Suspicious persons, vehicles, and incidents, c. Reckless or impaired driver complaints and hit and run incidents, d. Drug-related calls, and e. "Just occurred" incidents not qualifying as priority or urgent calls, but for which suspect information is available. 4. On-view calls when officer safety is an issue will be initiated and cleared by voice transmission. 5. Traffic stops should be conducted and cleared by voice transmission. Deputies conduct traffic stops on their primary radio channels. Queries of persons, vehicles, or items should be conducted by using the MCT unless there is a concern for officer safety. 6. Area patrols are recorded via MCT; comments are typed in the remarks section before clearing the call. 7. Employees should check out on all civil process attempts, both for statistics and for verification of the number of attempts. 8. Employees should place themselves “Out of Service” when leaving their MCTs. When checking out, a unit will specify availability for calls by placing a checkmark in the box labelled “Available” if they can still receive calls. 9. The Communications Division will “dual dispatch” any unit that has checked out of service but available, without regard to the dispatch timer. J. NCIC and FCIC Inquires: NCIC and FCIC inquiries are conducted with MCTs unless a safety concern is present. 1. Employees must be certified before being authorized to access FCIC/NCIC systems. Only those codes, passwords, or other numbers assigned to employees will be used to access these systems. 2. All NCIC and FCIC inquiries, such as wanted persons, stolen articles, domestic violence, missing persons, etc., should be confirmed over radio channel 12-B. This validates and confirms teletype inquiries. Until confirmation is received from a Communication Specialist, enforcement action is not taken based solely upon information obtained via an MCT. 3. Criminal histories are not available via the MCT. 4. FCIC/NCIC systems are used only for legitimate law enforcement investigations. GENERAL ORDER Communications and Electronic Systems G-65 PAGE 3 OF 9\n\n--- Page 4 ---\n\nNOTE: The security of certain data, such as confidential reports or FCIC/NCIC data must be protected when using MCTs. Employees will take precautions to prevent deliberate or accidental access by unauthorized persons by protecting their MCT screens. If citizens request public records, they will be referred to the Records Section during business hours. K. When on