26-100 Obtaining a Public Safety Statement at an OIS or OID
Department Notice
This document is not an official representation of the published policy. To access the official signed policy, please submit a request through our Public Records Request Portal.
A Public Safety Statement is information obtained by a field supervisor intended to determine existing threats to public safety and to capture transitory evidence that must be preserved. The scope of this statement is limited to the collection of fleeting and crucial information in the immediate aftermath of an OIS or OID. The public safety statement is considered compelled and may be taken from the involved officer without the benefit of representation.
It is not the responsibility of the field supervisor to conduct a comprehensive interview of the involved officer, but the responsibility of Internal Affairs investigators at a later time. The field supervisor shall not ask why the involved officer reacted to the incident.
SFPD 544 (supervisor’s blue pocket card - revised and attached to this notice) provides guidelines for field supervisors in the collection of a Public Safety Statement at the scene of an Officer-Involved Shooting (OIS) or Officer-Involved Discharge (OID).
- Before taking a Public Safety Statement and if feasible, the field supervisor should speak to each involved officer separately.
- The field supervisor shall deactivate their own and the involved officer’s Body Worn Cameras (BWC).
- The field supervisor shall seize the involved officer’s BWC as evidence and provide the BWC to the Internal Affairs investigators.
Every officer-involved incident is unique, so the field supervisor may need to take into account the officer’s post-incident condition, and may need to ask the involved officer other necessary questions not listed on SFPD 544 as part of the Public Safety Statement. The field supervisor should remind the involved officer to not discuss the incident further until they have met with an attorney. The field supervisor that obtains a Public Safety Statement should remain on-scene to confer with assigned investigators.
The field supervisor shall prepare a memorandum, documenting the Public Safety Statement and other actions taken at the scene. The field supervisor shall send the memorandum directly to the Officer-in-Charge of the Internal Affairs Division.
The SFPD 544 Public Safety Statement has been updated with the following changes:
- Added “Barring exigency (involved officer receiving medical aid, etc.), the Public Safety Statement should be taken in the presence of only the supervisor and the involved officer.”
- Added “Which one and in which direction?” This is to specify which weapon was used.
- Replaced “criminal investigators” with “Internal Affairs investigators.”
- Replaced “written statement” with “memorandum.”
- Added “The memo shall be sent directly to the OIC of IAD.”
Members shall immediately begin use of revised SFPD 544 (Rev. 10/25) and recycle outdated forms. Members may pick up copies at the print shop in the basement of HOJ, 850 Bryant St., or order them with their supplies order. A copy of the revised SFPD 544 is attached to this notice and can be located in the SFPD Forms folder and in PowerDMS.
Related Policy:
DGO 8.11 OIS & OID
DGO 10.11, Body Worn Cameras
/s/
DERRICK J. LEW
Chief of Police