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MEMORANDUM
TO: Lake County Board of Supervisors
FROM: Don Anderson, District Attorney
DATE: September 18, 2018
SUBJECT: Consideration of Permanent Overnight Vehicle Use for District Attorney Investigators
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The District Attorney's Office is requesting permission that all DA investigators be allowed to take their County vehicles home while they are not on duty. This includes the following Investigators:
Chief Investigator Bruce Smith, Willits
Investigator Jim Crane, Kelseyville
Investigator Jason Cox, Ukiah
Investigator Scott Puma, Ukiah
Investigator Denise Hinchcliff, Lakeport
Investigator Andrew Chapman, Cobb
Since the inception of the District Attorney Investigator Division in 1978, DA Investigators have for obvious reasons, been allowed to take their assigned County vehicles home and keep them overnight. Our records do not show any prior authorization from the Board regarding this matter.
The DA Investigators' County vehicles are equipped with special fittings including but not limited to red/blue lights, sirens, police radios, and gun racks. They also are equipped with semi-automatic rifles, ammunition, bullet proof vests, and other law enforcement equipment. On occasions these vehicles will also contain sensitive and expensive equipment such as the Faro 3-D laser scanner, an unmanned aerial system (drone), and television monitor.
Our DA Investigators are all on stand-by call out status. All six are subject to being called out at any time and must immediately respond to the scene of a crime or other location. Emergency call outs often include officer involved critical incidents, homicides, and other major crimes.
Frequently our Investigators travel to various out of county locations for investigative, witness transport, and training purposes. On many of these occasions these Investigators respond directly to and from their residence rather than go to the main office.
As the Board is aware, for the past sev...
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