Policy Text
University of California, San Francisco
Police Department General Orders
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10.1 Special Operations
10.1.2 Special Operation Procedures (Revised: 7/3/24 )
A. The UCSF and UC Berkeley Police Department s jointly operate a negotiation and entry
team (NET) to respond to active shooter, hostage and other critical incidents.
The UCSF Police Department does not have a bomb squad or full -time special weapons
and tactics (SWAT) team. Should these types of services be necessary, in accordance
with the mutual aid agreement, the San Francisco Police Department ( SFPD) 24 -hours
Operations Center shall be contacted at 415-553-1071. In addition, other specialized
SWAT or tactical units may also be summone d as the situation permits (e.g., FBI,
SWAT, S an Francisco Sheriff ’s Department Emergency Services Unit ).
B. The following circumstances are situations for which mutual aid services may be
necessary:
1. Barricaded suspect apprehension
2. Rescue of subjects in the line of fire (injured officer s, citizens )
3. Barricaded suspect with hostage operations
4. Anti-sniper operations
5. Mobile operations/special purpose vehicles
6. Protective details – executive/witness
7. Bomb disposal (SFPD Bomb Squad)
8. Crowd control
9. Mass arrests
10. Active shooter
11. High risk search/arrest warrants
12. High risk kidnapping/extortion operations.
C. The SFFD Rescue Team is responsible for all search and rescue functions within San
Francisco County. The San Mateo County Sher iff’s Emergency Services d etail is
responsible for all search and rescue functions wit hin San Mateo County .
D. During an incident requiring mutual aid response, it may become necessary to notify staff
or faculty of the incident or limit access to or from the affected area.
1. Procedures for issuance of an alert via the UCSF Listserv are described in General
Order 6.3.4 , “UCSF Police -Alert Li stserv Addresses.”
2. Procedures for emergency electronic access closures are described in General
Order 7.3, “Emergency and Electronic Access Closures.”
3. Procedures for WarnMe are described in General Order 7.4 , “Emergency
Notification System” and Appen dix MNS of the UCSF Emergency Response
Management Pla n.
University of California, San Francisco
Police Department General Orders
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E. Critical Incident Response Guidelines
1. Officers responding to a critical incident or participating in a special operation s
assignment are responsible for the following first responder tasks in advance of
the arrival of specialized response teams :
a. Assign ing responsibilities to responding Department personnel , to be
fulfilled until additional resources arrive. These could include, but are not
limited to:
(1) Rescue
(2) First aid
(3) Scene contai nment
(4) Evacuation
(5) Issuance of shelter in -place orders
(6) Evidence preservation
(7) Witness identification
(8) Suspect containment
(9) Establishing inner or outer perimeters
(10) Setting up command posts.
b. Assessing the need for additional resources
c. Notifying arriving response units and the ECC of the particulars of the
active scene.
d. Establish ing the location of the initial command post and request ing that
additional resources respond to that location for assignment.
2. The first officer on scene will be the Incident Commander. He/she will serve in
that capacity until relieved by a higher ranking officer, corporal, sergeant or
command officer.
3. Primary goal s of first res ponders are to:
a. Assess the situation
b. Isolate, contain and protect against threats to human life
c. Provide direction to shelter in place or evacuate if necessary
d. Communicate w ith other responding personnel, with an emphasis on
coordinat ion and cooperation between specialized teams and other on-
scene , operational components .
4. In response to an active threat to human life, officers will coordinate the
deployment of tactical teams to isolate and neutralize the threat.
a. Outside agencies will be contacted to provide additional resources not
readily available to the UCSF Police Department (e.g., SWAT, bomb
squad ).
b. ECC personnel will be responsible for requesting these addi tional
resources.
6. The Incident Commander sha ll ensure a minimum number of patrol officers is
available to respond to calls for service not connect ed with the critical incident.
University of California, San Francisco
Police Department General Orders
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7. The intent of "coordination and control" is to follow procedures t hat minimize the
potential for misunderstandings betw een response components, to provide for the
safety of officers and to ensure the success of the operation.
8. When operational security is critical to a successful outcome, d iscretion is advised
in disseminating information to local commanders and operational components.