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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2005-09-01 SWAT Agmt - City of La PalmaNorth County SWAT Brea, Fullerton, La Habra, La Palma & Placentia Police Departments JOINT POWERS AGREEMENT Originals on file with the City of La Habra and City of Fullerton AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITIES OF LA HABRA, BREA, FULLERTON, PLACENTIA AND LA PALMA FOR JOINT POLICE SERVICES This contract is dated for identification this ~ day of September, 2005, and is made by and between the CITY OF LA HABRA, a General Law City and municipal corporation which has as its address 201 E. La Habra Blvd., La Habra, California, 90631, and the CITY OF BREA, a General Law City, which has as its address 1 Civic Center Circle, Brea, California 92821, and the CITY OF FULLERTON, a General Law City which has as its address 303 West Commonwealth Avenue, Fullerton, California 92832 and the CITY OF PLACENTIA, a Charter City, which has as its address 401 East Chapman Avenue, PLACENTIA, California 92870, and the CITY OF LA PALMA, a general law city which has as its address 7822 Walker Street, La Palma, CA 90623 (hereinafter "LA HABRA", "BREA", "FULLERTON", "PLACENTIA" and "LA PALMA"). RECITALS A) BREA, FULLERTON, LA HABRA, PLACENTIA and LA PALMA share not only a common boundary and proximity but also overlapping demands for Police responses, often tohigh-risk/critical incidents which require the specialized attention of a team trained specifically to be effective in highly volatile situations. B) The Police Departments of BREA, FULLERTON, LA HABRA, PLACENTIA and LA PALMA have long recognized that mutual aid and cooperation in response to critical incidents can be enhanced and made more flexible and effective by combining forces for Special Weapons And Tactics Teams (SWAT), Tactical Emergency Medical Services ITEMS), Crisis Negotiators (CNT) and Tactical Dispatchers. C) Pursuant to a contract between the City of BREA and the City of Yorba Linda, the City of Brea, through the Brea Police Department, provides police services to the City of Yorba Linda. D) The Police Chiefs of BREA, FULLERTON, LA HABRA, PLACENTIA and LA PALMA have long recognized that to successfully resolve a tactical situation, a chief law enforcement administrator must have the proper tactical options at his or her disposal. A properly trained team capable of tactical and mediative options is the ideal. Even when the threat potential is low, continuous support for this type of team is important in order to maintain a high state of readiness. E) The Chiefs of Police from BREA, LA HABRA, FULLERTON, PLACENTIA and LA PALMA police departments recognize that a well managed, highly trained and highly skilled tactical response team handling a critical incident reduces the risk of injury or loss of life to our constituents, police officers and suspects. 1 F) Each police agency has expressed a desire to respond more swiftly to critical incidents; with enhanced local control, a more consistent response, and with a combined larger group of officers than any one of the agencies could provide alone. G) The purpose of this document is to formalize the proposed concept of a multi- jurisdictional special weapons and tactics team comprised of members of the BREA, LA HABRA, FULLERTON, PLACENTIA and LA PALMA Police Departments. The proposed name of this team is North County S WAT Team. H) The City Councils of BREA, FULLERTON, LA HABRA, PLACENTIA and LA PALMA now desire to formally establish and confirm the framework for this cooperative effort as well as to clarify the legal relationships resultant from that ongoing cooperative arrangement. NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the recitals and mutual promises contained herein, it is agreed as follows. 1. The North County SWAT Team It is hereby formally established that the police departments and personnel of BREA, LA HABRA FULLERTON, PLACENTIA and LA PALMA have formed a special tactical unit, known as the North County SWAT Team (hereinafter referred to as "North County SWAT"). 2. Introduction To successfully resolve a tactical situation an administrator must have the proper tactical options at his or her disposal. The best tactical option available is a properly trained and equipped tactical unit. For best results, administrators must provide continuous support even when the threat potential is low. 3. Purpose/Mission Statement It is the intent of the signatories to secure through the mechanisms hereby created: a. Amore efficient utilization of police services and resources; b. An enhanced degree of cooperation between law enforcement agencies within the participating communities; c. Amore timely and effective response to calls for specialized police assistance; 2 d. Adequate manpower levels of highly trained law enforcement officers to resolve crisis and high-risk situations. e. Enhance the degree of response to demands for special weapons and tactics teams to handle high-risk situations; and f. Provide the fullest level of immunity from liability attainable for officers responding to calls outside mutual aid/compact agreement. 4. Duration This agreement will take effect between and among those signatories that are party to it upon execution by their respective governing bodies; and will remain in full force and effect for each and every signatory until the governing body of any one or more signatory(ies) notifies the governing body(ies) of each and every other signatory of their withdrawal in writing. It is specifically understood and agreed by and among the signatories that the withdrawal of any one or more parties does not work a nullification of this agreement, nor otherwise require its redrafting or re-execution. 5. Personnel and Supervision The North County SWAT shall consist of a SWAT team and a Crisis Negotiations Team ("CNT"). The Regional Team configuration may be comprised of as many sub-teams or reserve teams as needed for a particular incident. The Police Chief from each participating agency shall serve on a governing board which shall be responsible for the overall policies of the team. The governing board shall be known as the North County SWAT Team ("SWAT") Advisory Council and shall include: a. La Habra Police Chief b. Placentia Police Chief c. Brea Police Chief d. Fullerton Police Chief e. La Palma Police Chief The North County SWAT Advisory Council shall meet on a quarterly basis for the purpose of reviewing the activities of the North County S WAT. The advisory council will evaluate and adjust the goals of the unit if the need suggests such changes. The North County SWAT Advisory Council is the 3 final authority for developing, coordinating, disseminating and implementing North County S WAT policy. Each member of the North County SWAT Advisory Council shall have an equal vote. The North County SWAT Advisory members shall attend meetings and vote on North County SWAT business. Three (3) advisory members shall constitute a quorum. A majority vote (3 votes) shall be required to pass action items. Representative votes or attendance shall be limited to emergency situations. The Police Chief of the City of BREA shall be designated the chairman of the North County SWAT Advisory Council for the first full one year period of time following the full execution of this agreement. Upon the expiration of the one-year time period, the duties of chairman shall be rotated to the LA HABRA Police Chief who shall perform the duties of chairman for the next one year time period. Upon the expiration of that term the duties of chairman of the Advisory Council shall rotate to the PLACENTIA Police Chief. Upon the expiration of that term the duties of chairman of the advisory council shall rotate to the FULLERTON Police Chief. Upon expiration of that term the duties of chairman of the advisory council shall rotate to the LA PALMA Police Chief. The terms shall continue to rotate among the Police Chiefs in the same consecutive fashion year to year. Minutes of meetings shall be made on all votes and other actions taken. The North County SWAT Commander shall deliver a report to the Advisory council at the regularly scheduled meetings detailing the activities of the North County SWAT since the last meeting of the Advisory Council. BREA, FULLERTON, LA HABRA, PLACENTIA and LA PALMA will each assign and maintain officers and supervisors for the North County SWAT sufficient to provide appropriate joint coverage for critical incidents in any city which may require a response by the North County S WAT or its components. The Police Chiefs from BREA, FULLERTON, LA HABRA, PLACENTIA and LA PALMA shall establish minimum qualifications for North County SWAT members, including physical agility and tactical firearms qualifications, and shall establish an appropriate selection process for North County SWAT members. While participating in any high-risk/critical incidents or any training exercises, any Police Officer, civilian employee, Community Services Officer or volunteer shall be subject to the exclusive chain of command of the North County SWAT, as described in Section 9 herein. 4 Any Internal Affairs investigation requested by any supervisor will be referred to and performed by the agency employing the respective officer involved in the conduct to be reviewed. If an internal investigation involves the activities of officers or employees from more than one single agency, the agencies will determine whether to pursue a joint or a separate investigation. In the event of an investigation of a North County SWAT officer involved shooting such an investigation will be handled in accordance with the general guidelines contained in the Orange County County-Wide Officer Involved Fatal Incident Protocol. Any administrative action resulting from such investigations shall be a matter left up to the discretion of the employing agency. Each participating agency will be responsible for all personnel costs and obligations associated with the staff it assigns to the program, including, but not limited to base salary, overtime salary and fringe benefits, uniforms, ammunition, firearms, Workers' Compensation and retirement benefits. 6. Amendments Amendments and/or modifications to this agreement can be proposed at any time by a participating agency. These suggestions should be submitted to the Advisory Council which is authorized to designate one of its members to meet and confer with the participating jurisdiction's city council prior to the implementation of changes in the agreement's provisions. No amendment shall be effective unless the amendment is in writing and signed by each of the parties. 7. Activation The agreement is strictly voluntary in nature and places no jurisdiction participating in it under any obligation to respond to a request for tactical unit services that it is unable or unwilling to honor. All participating jurisdictions should make every accommodation possible to allow team members the opportunity to assist with a request for services. 8. Policies and Procedures Each officer assigned to the program will follow the general orders on the use of deadly force, use of lethal force, operation of police vehicles and any other general operating procedures adopted by the employing jurisdiction. The Police Chiefs of BREA, FULLERTON, LA HABRA, PLACENTIA and LA PALMA shall establish procedures for the operation of the North County 5 SWAT conforming to the California standardized Emergency Management System requirements, including, but not limited to, executive oversight of the North County SWAT, chain of command and control over the critical incident responses, and procedures for activation of the North County S WAT in response to critical incidents. The city where a critical incident is located shall assume the role of supervising agency for requesting activation of the North County SWAT. The incident commander for that supervising agency shall be assigned at the command officer/watch commander level and shall direct the nature and scope of response by the appropriate elements of the North County SWAT. The incident commander shall coordinate the North County SWAT response with the North County SWAT Commander. The North County S WAT Commander is in command of physical operation of the response itself in terms of the movement and actions of team members necessary to achieve the goal of the operation as set forth by the incident commander. Under direction of the North County SWAT Advisory Council and in accordance with the polices of the council, the North County SWAT Commander will direct the day-to-day activities of the North County S WAT, including: supervising personnel; assigning and directing investigations; scheduling duty hours and overtime; reviewing and approving reports; maintaining liaison with the law enforcement administrators and staff of participating and other agencies; conducting in-service training and assigning personnel to training courses and coordinating training offered to personnel of participating agencies. 9. Command The incident commander for the requesting agency will completely brief the North County SWAT commander or his or her designee upon their arrival at the scene of all known details/circumstances associated with the incident. Once the situation has been explained and the mission assigned, the execution of that assignment will be determined by the North County S WAT commander or his or her designee. When an operational plan is developed the incident commander for the requesting agency will be completely briefed, when possible, by the North County SWAT commander prior to the actual execution of it. The incident commander for the requesting agency should keep in mind that the operational plan proposed is based on education, training and experience of the North County SWAT personnel who have the best understanding of their exact capabilities. 10. North County SWAT Activation 6 For deployment to an unplanned event/critical incident or a preplanned event (High risk arrest/search warrant) each agency will follow their own established internal policy/protocol governing mobilization of the North County SWAT. A representative of the requesting agency shall notify the assisting agency as soon as possible with specifics on the nature of the call out, personnel and other resources needed, and the location to which the assisting agency is to respond. Requests for assistance may be honored under this agreement when received in any of following ways: a. Chief Law Enforcement Officer or designee of requesting jurisdiction to North County SWAT Commander. b. Multi jurisdictional narcotics enforcement unit director to North County SWAT commander. c. Outside jurisdiction police chief, director, and special agent-in- charge to Advisory Board Chairman. Example: ATF Special Agent-In-Charge to Advisory Board Chairman. North County SWAT commander notified by Chairman if request is granted. 11. Scope of response The scope of the response will be determined by the specific circumstances surrounding the request. Every effort will be made to respond as soon as possible with all due care and caution. Among the types of critical incidents to which the North County SWAT will respond are: a. High-risk warrant service response will include the North County SWAT commander, team supervisor, team leader(s) and team members sufficient to safely execute the search warrant. b. Protective details -executive/witness/show/money/evidence. c. High-risk surveillance -fixed or mobile. d. Undercover officer back up on high-risk operations. e. Barricaded suspect operations. f. Suicide-by-cop situations. g. Barricaded suspect with hostages operations. h. Anti-sniper operations. 7 i. High-risk search/warrant raids and arrests. j . High-risk kidnap/extortion operations. k. Emergency rescue (injured officer, citizen, etc.). 1. Mobile operations. m. High-risk vehicle stops. n. Crowd control. o. Mass arrest. p. Any other critical incident as determined appropriate by the North County SWAT commander where the ordinary patrol and departmental resources of the handling agency have been exhausted and the incident is beyond the control of the agency. 12. Civil Liabilities BREA, FULLERTON, LA HABRA, PLACENTIA and LA PALMA have the following understanding with regard to liability of the activities of the North County S WAT. BREA, FULLERTON, LA HABRA, PLACENTIA and LA PALMA hereby agree to be responsible for the acts and omissions of each of its own officers and officials involved in any North County S WAT operation. In furtherance thereof, each party ("indemnifying party") agrees to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the other parties, including their officers, agents and employees with respect to any and all demands, claims or liabilities of any nature, including death or injury to any person, property damage or loss caused to the extent caused by the negligence or willful misconduct of any officer or official of the indemnifying party in the performance of activities of the North County SWAT. In other words each party to this Agreement agrees in advance to be responsible for the conduct of its own officers assigned to the North County SWAT and to indemnify any and all other parties to this Agreement which maybe sued by a third party due to an event or transaction engaged in by any of the officers or officials of such party. 13. Implementation Guidelines The Police Chief of each city shall jointly promulgate written guidelines for the implementation ofthis Agreement. Said guidelines shall be in writing and approved by the City Attorney of each signatory agency as to form. Such guidelines may be changed as necessary by similar agreement. 14. Termination of Agreement 8 This Agreement may be terminated by any party to it at any time, without cause, upon giving the other parties written notice thereof. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, this Agreement is executed by LA HABRA, BREA, FULLERTON, PLACENTIA and LA PALMA. APPROVED AS TO CONTENT: CITY OF LA HABRA, A California General Law City and municipal corporation B ~ ;, Y ~' - By: Police Chief Mayor La Habra P Department City of La Habra PRO AS, TO FORM: ATTEST: By. B~ ,p~ n City A orne City Clerk La Hab Police epartment City of La Habra APPROVED AS TO CONTENT: CITY OF BREA, A California General Law City and municipal corporation .. ~, ~~ By. i ~ By. o ice i Mayor Brea P"ol' e Department City of Brea APPRO ED AS TO FORM: ATTEST: Y~ ~ - ~~~ By: ~ r -City Attor e Ci Clerk Ci of Brea Ci of Brea 9 APPROVED AS TO CONTENT: CITY OF FULLERTON, A California General Law City and municipal corporation By: By. P ice Chief Mayor Fullerton Police Department City of Fullerton APPROVED AS TO FORM: CITY OF FULLERTON, A California General Law City and municipa orporation B Y~ ~ By: City ttorney City Clerk City o ullerton City of Fullerton APPROVED AS TO CONTENT: CITY OF P ACENTIA A California harter City and municipal c ration By: Police hief Mayor PLACENTIA Police Department City of PLAC NTIA APPROVED AS TO FORM: CITY OF PLAC NTIA A California Ch er City and ~-~ B : m ' cipa o a ' y By; City Attorney City Clerk City of PLAC NTIA City of PLACENTIA APPR VED AS TO CONTENT: CITY OF LA PALMA A California General Law City and BY~ ~ Police Chief municipal orporation LA PALMA Police Department By; Mayor City of LA PALMA APPROVED AS TO FORM: CITY OF LA PALMA. A California General Law City and municipal corporat~enl G By: 1 ~ ~ , , _. t. By: ~~ ~'' ~ c?'L. Ci ttorney City Jerk, Deputy Ci of LA PALMA City of LA PALMA F:\Client F es\LA HARR A\QRT _ wrnr nrr,.*.ti r,,....... e.vw ~r a,~ro• r:__, ..___: 10