VIDEO RECORDINGS D-215 FRESNO COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
JAIL DIVISION POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
TITLE: RECORDING PLANNED EMERGENCY RESPONSES NO: D-215
FILE: VIDEO RECORDINGS
EFFECTIVE DATE: 03-01-03 REVISED: 09-23-13, 07-06-16
AUTHORITY: Sheriff J. Zanoni APPROVED BY: Assistant Sheriff T. Gattie
REFERENCE: Fresno County Sheriff's Office Policy and Procedure Section 102;and Hall,
et al. v. County of Fresno, 1-11-CV-02047-LJO-BAM (2015).
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this policy is to establish a procedure whereby pre-planned responses to an
emergency incident and/or calculated uses of force, shall be recorded using a portable
video recorder. The recorded incident will serve as a valuable resource in the event of
litigation by preserving an objective account of what occurred. Additionally, the videotape
can facilitate an administrative review of the use of force and can serve as an effective
training device, visually demonstrating proper and improper responses to various
situations.
POLICY:
It is the policy of the Fresno County Sheriff's Office Jail Division to videorecord all pre-
planned emergency responses and/or calculated uses of force. The policy is not intended
to include situations in which an immediate response is required and retrieving the recorder
and/or expending essential staff is not practicable.
PROCEDURES:
I. THE VIDEO RECORDER
A. Video recording cameras have been assigned to each facility, and are
stored in the following locations:
1. Main Jail - Facility Sergeant's Office (two)
2. Main Jail — Booking Sergeant's Office
3. South Annex Jail - Facility Sergeant's Office
4. North Annex Jail — Facility Sergeant's Office
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FRESNO COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
JAIL DIVISION POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
TITLE: RECORDING PLANNED EMERGENCY RESPONSES NO: D-215
FILE: VIDEO RECORDINGS
5. North Annex Jail - Transition from Jail-to-Community (TJC)
Sergeant's Office
6. SERT Armory
B. The Sergeants assigned to the corresponding areas shall be responsible
to ensure the camera is sufficiently charged and ready for use at the
beginning of each shift. A designated SERT Sergeant shall ensure the
readiness of the SERT camera on a monthly basis. Spare batteries have
been assigned to each location and should remain in the chargers until
needed.
C. There is one video recording camera assigned to each housing floor,
located inside the First Response Emergency Equipment(FREE) locker in
each security station. The camera shall remain in the charger when not in
use. It shall be the Security Officer's responsibility to:
1. Ensure the camera is charged and ready for use at the beginning of
each shift.
2. Include the camera in the inventory of emergency equipment and
document in the Safety Check System.
D. When preparing a planned emergency response/calculated use of force,
the supervising Sergeant shall ensure that a camera is obtained and an
officer is designated to operate the video recorder. The officer so
designated will not participate in the emergency response unless it
becomes necessary to intervene to prevent death or serious injury to
another staff member.
II. RECORDING THE INCIDENT
A. The staff member designated to record the incident shall record as much
of the incident as possible. Whenever possible, the recording shall
include, but not be limited to, the following:
1. The inmate's behavior that led up to the need for emergency
response/calculated use of force.
2. The visual and verbal identification of each staff member participating
in the planned response. Each staff member should speak his or her
name, computer number, and assigned role in front of the camera.
3. Any attempts by staff to deescalate the situation verbally and any
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FRESNO COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
JAIL DIVISION POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
TITLE: RECORDING PLANNED EMERGENCY RESPONSES NO: D-215
FILE: VIDEO RECORDINGS
opportunities given to the inmate to comply with orders.
4. The inmate's submission and/or compliance with orders.
5. The execution of the planned response. The recording officer shall
attempt to keep as many of the involved persons in the view of the
camera as possible. However, this provision does not prohibit the
officer from zooming in on noteworthy details.
6. The conclusion of the incident, including close views of any visible
injuries suffered by any involved person. When recording injuries,
the officer shall ensure that the identity of the injured person is made
clear in the recording.
7. Any statements made by the inmate at the conclusion of the incident.
III. STORAGE OF THE VIDEO
At the conclusion of the incident, the involved supervising Sergeant shall be
responsible to retrieve the camera and upload the recording into the V-drive
(refer to Addendum A for uploading procedures).
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