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Complaints are first evaluated by IA. If they are determined to be complaints (or a <br />Blue Folder), the same process is followed and they are assigned to the appropriate <br />supervisor for investigation. In cases of use of force and other serious matters, the <br />police chief assigns the sergeant of IA to conduct the investigation. <br /> <br />Criminal matters are referred to appropriate criminal investigations personnel. <br />When internal investigations involve criminal matters, there is a strict necessity to <br />ensure one-way firewall protection between the criminal and administrative <br />(internal) investigations. That is, information obtained in the criminal matter may be <br />used in the administrative investigation, however, information obtained in the <br />administrative investigation (without Miranda protection) may not be shared in the <br />criminal case. For this reason, some departments establish a clear policy that <br />administrative investigations are not conducted until criminal cases are finalized. <br />This sometimes causes undue delays in the taking of administrative action, such as <br />termination. In the EPD, it is permissible to conduct concurrent criminal and <br />administrative investigations. The key is that the investigations are to be conducted <br />independently by different personnel in different units with firewall protection. <br /> <br />In those instances when a citizen complaint does not meet the Blue Folder criteria <br />and is considered an inquiry, the matter is to be handled in a timely manner by the <br />most appropriate person in the organization to address that issue. An important <br />change is that inquiries, as well as complaints, are assigned numbers and tracked <br />when they are reported to IA. There is no effective way to ensure that supervisory <br />personnel who handle inquiries on their own actually report them. <br /> <br /> Advisory No. 11: The most effective way to ensure that everyone understands <br /> the proper way to handle inquiries and complaints from outside the <br /> department, as well as within, is to issue a general order which lays out the <br /> <br /> 78 <br /> <br /> <br />