555 CMR, § 6.07 - Use of Force Reporting
(1) Law enforcement
agencies shall develop and implement a policy and procedure for reporting the
use of force. Such policy shall mandate reporting such incidents including, but
not limited to, officer-involved injuries or deaths as described in 555 CMR
6.00, and include the use of a standard use of force reporting form as approved
by the Committee and the Commission which shall be completed by any officer who
uses force.
(2) Law enforcement
agencies shall report to the National Use of Force Data Collection Database
when actions by a law enforcement officer resulted in the death or serious
bodily injury of an individual, or when a law enforcement officer, in the
absence of death or serious bodily injury, discharged a firearm at or in the
direction of a person.
(3) Law
enforcement agencies are not required to report the discharge of a firearm
during training or qualification exercises, or for the purposes of animal
destruction/euthanasia where necessary.
(4) An officer who observes another officer
using physical force, including deadly force, beyond that which is necessary or
objectively reasonable based on the totality of the circumstances shall report
the incident to an appropriate supervisor as soon as reasonably possible but
not later than the end of the officer's shift. The officer shall prepare a
detailed written statement describing the incident consistent with uniform
protocols. The officer's written statement shall be included in the
supervisor's report.
(5) An officer
who knowingly makes an untruthful statement concerning a material fact or
knowingly omits a material fact from a use of force report may be subject to
decertification.
(6) Law
enforcement agencies shall develop and implement a policy and procedure for law
enforcement personnel including, but not limited to, law enforcement officers,
to report abuse by other law enforcement personnel including, but not limited
to, law enforcement officers, without fear of retaliation or actual
retaliation.
(7) Any harassment,
intimidation, or retaliation against any officer who either intervened to
prevent or stop an excessive force incident or made, intended to make, or is
required to make a report regarding the witnessed excessive force incident
shall be reported immediately to an appropriate supervisor and will not be
tolerated. Any such actions may result in decertification.
(8) All use of force reports shall be
retained and maintained by the law enforcement agency/department and are
subject to discovery and access through the Massachusetts Public Records Law
M.G.L. c. 66.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.