RON FREITAS
District Attorney
San Joaquin County
Office of the District Attorney
Office of the District Attorney
Officer-Involved Critical Incident Investigation Unit
The District Attorney heads the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office and is the Chief Law Enforcement Officer in San Joaquin County. The District Attorney's Office holds the significant responsibility of investigating officer-involved incidents, a duty that is crucial for maintaining public trust and ensuring justice. When law enforcement officers are involved in incidents such as shootings or the use of force resulting in serious injury or death, the DA's office must conduct thorough, impartial investigations to determine the legality and appropriateness of the officers' actions. This involves meticulously gathering and reviewing evidence, interviewing witnesses, and collaborating with independent investigative bodies when necessary. The DA's office must balance transparency with the need to maintain the integrity of the investigation, providing the public with timely and accurate information.
The District Attorney heads the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office (SJCDA) and is the Chief Law Enforcement Officer in San Joaquin County. The responsibility of the SJCDA is, "within his discretion," to "initiate and conduct on behalf of the people all prosecutions for public offenses." (Cal. Government Code ยง 26500.)
The mission of the SJCDA Office's Officer-Involved Critical Incident Unit is to ensure that such cases are investigated in an independent, fair, thorough, and expeditious manner to ensure justice and public trust.
About OICI Cases
What is the Officer-Involved Critical Incident Unit (OICI)?
The SJCDA OICI Unit investigates, oversees, reviews, and, when warranted, prosecutes officer-involved critical incidents. The OICI Unit is under the supervision of the Special Operations Division.
The OICI Unit has also engaged with community leaders locally throughout San Joaquin County as well as sought input from other interested entities such as the Stanford Criminal Justice Center at Stanford Law School.
The OICI Unit will continue our collaboration and outreach efforts with these groups and others to achieve the best practices in California.
What is an officer-involved critical incident?
An Officer-Involved Critical Incident (OICI) is an incident involving the use of force by a police agency employee, whether intentional or accidental, that proximately causes the death of another human being. These incidents include officer-involved shootings, uses of force, and traffic collisions.
What is the Protocol when and OICI happens?
In 1994, all local law enforcement agencies in San Joaquin County signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the SJCDA Office. The MOU outlines an established set of procedures often referred to simply as the “Protocol”.
Typically, in an incident, the police agency where the incident occurred will call the SJCDA Bureau of Investigations to notify them that an OICI has occurred. Our Bureau of Investigations assembles a team of investigators and, along with a designated OICI prosecutor, they will respond to the scene. The police agency will also notify the Medical Examiner and, depending on the circumstances, the Bureau of Forensic Science of the California Department of Justice or the California Highway Patrol’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT). Investigators from all these separate entities comprise the Protocol Task Force.
At a briefing, teams will be formed involving the various investigators and, assigned three primary duties: 1) scene investigation and evidence collection; 2) interviews of involved officers; and, 3) location and interviews of civilian witnesses.
After the initial investigation, Task Force members will re-convene to determine what, if any, follow-up investigation is needed. This might include computer or cell phone analysis, search warrants, or additional medical tests.
Once the investigation is complete, the reports and evidence collected from all the Task Force members are submitted to the OICI Unit. The OICI Unit will review the investigation and present its findings, in a written memorandum, to the OICI Review Committee, made up of senior prosecutors and investigators. Afterwards, the OICI Review Committee will make a recommendation of a course of action to the District Attorney. The District Attorney then makes an independent review of the investigation and determines a final course of action.
What are the courses of action?
In the review process of an OICI, a written memorandum is authored with a recommendation on whether or not to file charges and submitted to the OICI Review Committee. In determining whether or not to file criminal charges, a careful analysis of the facts is undertaken and applied to the prevailing law. The purpose of a review by the SJCDA OICI Unit is to determine whether or not, based on the evidence, an officer’s use of force was necessary and objectively reasonable given the circumstances at the time of the incident. In other words, as the US Supreme Court has said, the “‘reasonableness’ of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight." (Graham v. Conner (1989) 490 U.S. 386, 396.)
If it is determined that criminal charges are not warranted, a final memorandum is written describing the incident and the legal reasoning behind the decision not to file charges. This decision is made independent of any administrative investigation and review made by the involved agency.
Before the public release of the memorandum, two things occur - the memorandum is sent to the Chief Executive Officer of the involved agency and the family of the decedent is notified. After the family is notified, they are given an opportunity to meet in person to receive the memorandum, have it explained, and ask any questions they might have. If there are audio or video recordings of the incident, family members are given an opportunity to hear or view the recordings. Once this happens, the memorandum is released to the public.
If it is determined that criminal charges are warranted, then a criminal complaint is filed listing the appropriate charges and the investigation follows the normal procedure that any criminal prosecution would. In the review process of an OICI, a written memorandum is authored with a recommendation on whether or not to file charges and submitted to the OICI Review Committee. In determining whether or not to file criminal charges, a careful analysis of the facts is undertaken and applied to the prevailing law. The purpose of a review by the SJCDA OICI Unit is to determine whether or not, based on the evidence, an officer’s use of force was necessary and objectively reasonable given the circumstances at the time of the incident. In other words, as the US Supreme Court has said, the “‘reasonableness’ of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight." (Graham v. Conner (1989) 490 U.S. 386, 396.)
If it is determined that criminal charges are not warranted, a final memorandum is written describing the incident and the legal reasoning behind the decision not to file charges. This decision is made independent of any administrative investigation and review made by the involved agency.
Before the public release of the memorandum, two things occur - the memorandum is sent to the Chief Executive Officer of the involved agency and the family of the decedent is notified. After the family is notified, they are given an opportunity to meet in person to receive the memorandum, have it explained, and ask any questions they might have. If there are audio or video recordings of the incident, family members are given an opportunity to hear or view the recordings. Once this happens, the memorandum is released to the public.
If it is determined that criminal charges are warranted, then a criminal complaint is filed listing the appropriate charges and the investigation follows the normal procedure that any criminal prosecution would.