Lakewood Police Department
Policy and Procedure
 Effective Date: 10/25/2023
Policy Number: PP-6064
Internal Affairs Investigations

 
  1. Policy - none
  2. Procedure
    1. An investigation is conducted on allegations of misconduct or issues of a highly confidential or sensitive nature. Internal Affairs investigations are maintained electronically in secure Axon Standards software
    2. The Internal Affairs Sergeant and/or Detective shall determine if information can be obtained via a written memorandum or recorded interviews from the involved employee(s) and witnesses. 
    3. The Internal Affairs Sergeant will conduct Records and Internal Affairs checks to be made on the reporting party. The involved employee's internal affairs record is also checked for similar allegations.    
    4. The Internal Affairs Sergeant shall determine if an additional investigator, other than the Internal Affairs detective, is necessary to complete the investigation.  If no additional investigator is needed, the case is assigned to the Internal Affairs detective. 
    5. If an additional investigator is needed, the Internal Affairs Sergeant shall contact the Professional Standards Section Commander who shall make arrangements for the assignment of an additional investigator.  The assigned investigator shall be under the functional supervision of the Internal Affairs Sergeant during the internal affairs process.  
    6. When the case is completed by the investigator, it shall be forwarded/tracked to the Internal Affairs Sergeant to review for completeness. The Internal Affairs Sergeant will send the completed investigation to the Professional Standards Section commander for review of completeness.
    7. If complete, the case shall be routed to the appropriate chain of command for the staff review process.    At the conclusion of the chain of command review, the file will be returned to the Internal Affairs Sergeant for Notices of Final Finding to be distributed to involved employee(s).  The file will be forwarded to the Commander of Professional Standards Section for administrative closure.
    8. If, during the course of the administrative investigation, the investigator reasonably believes that a crime may have been committed by an employee, the Professional Standards Commander shall be notified immediately. 
    9. At the discretion of the Chief of Police, The Professional Standards Section Commander shall notify the appropriate District Attorney's office that a crime may have been committed by an employee within the DA's judicial district.  
    10. If the alleged criminal act occurred within the city of Lakewood, a separate criminal investigation shall be conducted by separate investigators so designated by the Chief of Police after notification of the District Attorney's office.  Upon completion of the criminal investigation, the criminal case shall be presented to the District Attorney's Office for review and determination of action.
    11. Separate criminal investigations shall be conducted in accordance with established criminal investigation procedures.
    12. The administrative investigation and the criminal investigation shall be conducted completely independent of one another.  Copies of all investigative reports from the criminal investigation shall be provided to the Internal Affairs Sergeant. No information developed as a result of interviews with departmental employees who are the primary subject of the administrative investigation or information otherwise obtained in the administrative investigation from said employees shall be shared or disseminated to the criminal investigators. Interviews of department employees who were witnesses to the incident at issue may be shared with criminal investigators at the discretion of the Professional Standards Commander.