52A - Internal Affairs, Maintaining Professional Standards - 2019

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52A - Internal Affairs Policy and Procedure Page 2 of 13 detected, reported, thoroughly investigated and properly adjudicated to assure the maintenance of these qualities. • Protecting the Department. The Department is often evaluated and judged by the actions or inactions of its individual members. Efforts will be made to impress upon each officer a consciousness that his/her individual actions represent the department as a whole before the public. When an informed public knows that its police department honestly and fairly investigates and adjudicates all allegations against its members, this public will be less likely to feel any need to raise a cry of indignation over alleged incidents of misconduct. • Protecting the Employees. Employees must be protected against false or frivolous allegations of misconduct. Although being the focus of an investigation may be an unpleasant or uncomfortable position, the best protection for an employee who has actually done nothing wrong is a complete and thorough investigation conducted in a timely manner that clearly and unequivocally supports the employee's honesty or integrity. • Removing Unfit Personnel. Personnel who engage in acts of misconduct or who have demonstrated that they are unfit for law enforcement work must be removed for the protection of the public, the Department, and other Department employees. • Correcting Procedural Problems. The Department is constantly seeking to improve its efficiency and effectiveness. Occasionally, personnel investigations will disclose faulty procedures that would otherwise have gone undetected. These procedures can then be improved or corrected. In order to accomplish the goals and objectives of the internal affairs policy, the Lexington Police Department will apply the following principles: • All complaints will be investigated. The purpose of this standard is to require an appropriate investigation of all complaints received from any source, including anonymous complaints. On occasion, malicious and deliberately false accusations will be made. In these instances, there is no better way to invalidate the complaint than by investigating it thoroughly. [52.1.1] • All instances of misconduct will be documented and investigated, including misconduct and infractions discovered by staff and line inspections, with the procedures established in these policies. In this way, the Department will be able to maintain one system for reporting, investigating, and adjudicating misconduct by employees. PROCEDURES A. Internal Affairs Component [52.1.3] 1. Authority to Investigate. The Chief of Police is the Internal Affairs Function and shall be responsible for managing and directing the Lexington Police Department's internal affairs component. The Chief of Police, or a designee in his absence, will be notified of all complaints against the Department and/or an employee, see Department policy 52B - Internal Affairs Investigations and Forms for additional procedures. [52.2.2]