26-054 Incident Report Access and Confidentiality

The purpose of this notice is to remind employees of the Department’s expectations for accessing incident reports in the report writing system, Crime Data Warehouse (CDW).

Authorized Access

Employees may access incident reports as necessary to perform their assigned responsibilities, provided such access supports a legitimate law enforcement purpose. Authorized access may include, but is not limited to:

• Employees assigned to follow-up or related investigative responsibilities
• Supervisors or Officers-in-Charge (OIC) responsible for review and approval
• Employees conducting an authorized administrative, legal or investigative review
• For training purposes

Prohibited Access

Accessing incident reports for general curiosity, personal interest, or reasons unrelated to one’s work responsibilities, including review of sensitive or high-profile information, is prohibited.

Unauthorized release of incident report information is strictly prohibited (refer to DGO 3.16, Release of Police Reports).

Audit Trails

Employees are reminded that all access to CDW is recorded through system audit logs. These logs document user access and system activity and are reviewed by the Risk Management Office (RMO) to ensure compliance with Department policy. Unauthorized or improper access to incident reports may result in administrative investigation and/or disciplinary action.

Confidential Incident Report Designation

Employees who are writing an incident report that they believe involves sensitive or high-profile information should obtain supervisory approval to designate the incident report as confidential. Employees can mark an incident report as confidential by clicking the box on the face page and then selecting the confidential type.

Supervisors responsible for reviewing and approving incident reports should remain cognizant of circumstances where an incident report may warrant confidential status.

After an incident report has been approved as confidential by the employee’s supervisor, all employees shall only print the incident report if absolutely necessary and handle that printed copy with discretion.

Post-Approval Confidentiality Requests

If an incident report has already been approved and it is subsequently determined that the incident report should be designated as confidential, employees shall immediately contact the OIC of the Crime Information Services Unit (CISU) to implement appropriate access restrictions.

/s/
NICOLE JONES
Acting Chief of Police