2. Focus Stop, Search, Ticketing and Arrest Practices on Community Protection
FPD must fundamentally change the way it conducts stops and searches, issues citations and summonses, and makes arrests. FPD officers must be trained and required to abide by the law. In addition, FPD enforcement efforts should be reoriented so that officers are required to take enforcement action because it promotes public safety, not simply because they have legal authority to act. To do this, FPD should:
- Prohibit the use of ticketing and arrest quotas, whether formal or informal;
- Require that officers report in writing all stops, searches and arrests, including pedestrian stops, and that their reports articulate the legal authority for the law enforcement action and sufficient description of facts to support that authority;
- Require documented supervisory approval prior to:
- Issuing any citation/summons that includes more than two charges;
- Making an arrest on any of the following charges:
- Failure to Comply/Obey;
- Resisting Arrest;
- Disorderly Conduct/Disturbing the Peace;
- Obstruction of Government Operations;
- Arresting or ticketing an individual who sought police aid, or who is cooperating with police in an investigation;
- Arresting on a municipal warrant or wanted;
- Revise Failure to Comply municipal code provision to bring within constitutional limits, and provide sufficient guidance so that all stops, citations, and arrests based on the provision comply with the Constitution;
- Train officers on proper use of Failure to Comply charge, including elements of the offense and appropriateness of the charge for interference with police activity that threatens public safety;
- Require that applicable legal standards are met before officers conduct pat-downs or vehicle searches. Prohibit searches based on consent for the foreseeable future;
- Develop system of correctable violation, or "fix-it" tickets, and require officers to issue fix-it tickets wherever possible and absent contrary supervisory instruction;
- Develop and implement policy and training regarding appropriate police response to activities protected by the First Amendment, including the right to observe, record, and protest police action;
- Provide initial and regularly recurring training on Fourth Amendment constraints on police action, as well as responsibility within FPD to constrain action beyond what Fourth Amendment requires in interest of public safety and community trust;
- Discontinue use of "wanteds" or "stop orders" and prohibit officers from conducting stops, searches, or arrests on the basis of "wanteds" or "stop orders" issued by other agencies.
3. Increase Tracking, Review, and Analysis of FPD Stop, Search, Ticketing and Arrest Practices
At the first level of supervision and as an agency, FPD must review more stringently officers' stop, search, ticketing, and arrest practices to ensure that officers are complying with the
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