LAS VEGAS FIRE & RESCUE

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES

FIRE INVESTIGATIONS - BOMB SQUAD / LAW ENFORCEMENT COMPUTER DATABASE SYSTEMS
Revised Date: / 08/27/04
Supersedes: / 10/07/02 / SOP / 600.80 / Page 1 of 6
  1. INTRODUCTION
  1. Purpose:To state policies and procedures governing operation of law-enforcement computer databases utilized by the Bureau of Fire Investigations - Bomb Squad.
  1. Scope:This policy applies to all members of the Bureau of Fire Investigations - Bomb Squad, in regular or acting status, at all times.
  1. Author:The Deputy Chief of Fire Prevention –(Fire Marshal), through the Supervisor of Fire Investigations Bomb Squad and the Deputy Chief of Administration shall be responsible for the content, revision, and annual review of this section.
  1. Authority:FBI and Nevada Highway Patrol NCJIS/NCIC/NLETS Administrative policies and operating procedures.
E.Definitions
  1. SCOPE:Shared Computer Operations for Protection and Enforcement. A regional database for Law Enforcement agencies in Clark County.
  1. NCJIS:Nevada Criminal Justice Information System. A statewide database for Law Enforcement agencies in Nevada.
  1. NLETS:national Law Enforcement Telecommunications System. A National Law Enforcement Database owned and operated by the states.
  1. NCIC: National Crime Information Center. A National Law Enforcement Database owned and operated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  1. CERTIFIED TERMINAL OPERATOR:A Fire Investigations Supervisor, Fire Investigator I or II, or a secretary employed specifically for the Bureau of Fire Investigtions - Bomb Squad who has undergone a preliminary background check, FBI fingerprint check, terminal operator training, and has a valid operator ID and password assigned. Acting Fire Investigator I’s will not be certified terminal operators.
  1. CONTROL TERMINAL AGENCY (CTA):One agency in each state that controls the use of law enforcement computer databases in accordance with system administrative policies and operating procedures. In Nevada the CTA is the Nevada Highway Patrol.
  1. ORI: A unique identifier assigned to a terminal agency by the FBI.
  1. OPERATOR ID:A unique identifier assigned to a certified terminal operator by the Control Terminal Agency.
  1. PASSWORD:An identifier selected by a certified terminal operator and used in conjunction with the operator ID
  1. SECONDARY DISSEMINATION:Dissemination of criminal history records information to another criminal justice agency, such as a district attorney’s office or court.
  1. ENTERING AGENCY:The terminal agency responsible for the Entry of a person and/or property record into the NCIC system.
  1. RESPONSIBILITY
  1. It shall be the responsibility of all members of the Bureau of Fire Investigations Bomb Squad to be familiar and in compliance with this policy and procedure.
  1. It shall be the responsibility of the Supervisor of Fire Investigations - Bomb Squad to function as the Terminal Agency Coordinator (TAC) and to ensure compliance with this policy and procedure.
  1. POLICY
  1. It shall be the policy of the Bureau of Fire Investigations - Bomb Squad to utilize these law enforcement computer databases in accordance with the Administrative Policies and Operating Procedures as set forth by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Control Terminal Agency.
  1. It shall be the policy of the Bureau of Fire Investigations - Bomb Squad to abide by the user agreement entered into between the Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety and Las Vegas Fire & Rescue.
  1. PROCEDURES
  1. All inquiries into any of these law enforcement computer databases will be made in conjunction with a valid criminal justice purpose. It is forbidden for personnel to request and/or perform inquiries for curiosity or for any reason other than a criminal justice purpose. All inquiries are logged by the Control Terminal Agency and maintained for a period of one year. Inquiry violations will result in the administration of the department’s Positive Discipline process.
  1. There will be no dissemination of any information obtained as a result of an inquiry into these systems to any unauthorized person. This includes the transmittal via fax or e-mail delivery from this office to another location.
  1. There will be no secondary dissemination of any information obtained as a result of any inquiry into these systems to any individual or agency, even though they may be authorized access to such information except for the prosecuting Attorney’s Office having Authority and Jurisdiction over the matter. Any and all information forwarded to a prosecuting Attorney’s Office as part of a criminal case submittal will be documented and kept for one (1) year. The information documented will include the following:
Date: The date it was forwarded to the prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Case #: Our LVF&R case number.

Given To:District Attorney, U.S. Attorney, State Attorney General.

Type Given:SCOPE, III, etc.

Subject Name:Name of person whose criminal data was disseminated.

  1. Only certified terminal operators, who have a valid operator ID and password, will perform inquiries into these systems. Acting Fire Investigator I’s will not make such inquiries.
  1. Operator ID and passwords are confidential and shall not be given to other personnel.
  1. No employee will sign on using the operator ID and password of another, nor will they perform a transaction on a terminal that is still signed on by another. If someone else is signed-on to a terminal, then the terminal operator wishing to use the terminal will sign-on over the other person.
  1. The Supervisor of Fire Investigations - Bomb Squad will immediately cause the terminal ID of any terminated or separated employee to be canceled by the Control Terminal Agency.
  1. All members of the Bureau of Fire Investigations - Bomb Squad will be certified as terminal operators. All newly promoted personnel will undergo a preliminary background check and FBI fingerprint check. An employee who has been convicted of a felony or gross misdemeanor may not be certified unless authorized by the Control Terminal Agency.
  1. All certified terminal operators will be trained/retrained in accordance with the NCJIS Training Plan or with a state-approved training plan developed by this agency. New employees will be certified within six months of promotion.
  1. Retraining and proficiency testing for all certified terminal operators will take place every other year.
  1. The terminal Bridge screen will be situated in such a manner that the screen will face away from public view.
  1. At the beginning of every shift, the on-duty team will log on to NLETS and check messages in order to keep the message traffic to a minimum. During use, the SCOPE and/or NCJIS/NCIC screen will be logged off prior to any control terminal operator leaving the office.
  1. To prevent unauthorized access to the terminal, the Fire Investigations - Bomb Squad office will be locked whenever all Bureau personnel leave the building. The Bureau of Fire Investigations – Bomb Squad office is considered a secure area with limited key access to Bureau personnel only.
  1. Printouts contained in case files will be kept in a secure filing cabinet. The cabinet will be locked whenever it is unattended. All other printouts will be disposed of by shredding.
  1. All information contained in any warrant entry transaction will be verified by a second party prior to being entered in the system. This includes Wanted Person Entries that are temporary with a forty-eight (48) hour limitation. The second party verifying the warrant entry must be a certified terminal operator and will verify the Entry from the information contained in the warrant as well as either the NCIC or NCJIS Code Manual.
  1. After a wanted person has been entered in the system, the original warrant will be taken immediately to the City Hall Jail, where it will be maintained for purposes of warrant confirmation. The Department of Detention and Enforcement provides 24/7 warrant confirmation services to this department per a memorandum of understanding between the two departments. A copy of the warrant will be made and placed in the case file prior to delivering the original to the City of Las Vegas Jail Intake Window located at Stewart and Mojave. The case file with the warrant copy will be filed in chronological order in the open warrant drawer of the locked file cabinet. Fire Investigators are on duty 24/7 and upon notification from the Department of Detention and Enforcement through Fire Dispatch, can access the warrant files to provide information to the arresting agency if need be. The Department of Detention and Enforcement will provide 24/7 Hit Confirmation with the understanding that the Bureau of Fire Investigations – Bomb Squad of Las Vegas Fire & Rescue as the Entering Agency, will perform follow up procedures to ensure extradition and warrant clearance.
  1. Records will be cleared or canceled from NCJIS/NCIC as soon as possible once this agency has been notified that the person/property has been arrested/located, or that any invalid record exists.
  1. The Supervisor of Fire Investigations – Bomb Squad operating as the TAC will maintain a directory of all warrant actions to include when warrants are received, cleared, canceled and how many open warrants exist with this agency at any given time for both NCJIS and NCIC warrant records.
  1. MCT’s, or Mobile Computer Terminals are equipped in the response vehicles of the Bureau of Fire Investigations – Bomb Squad for use by Bureau personnel to access data. MCT’s equipped with NCJIS/NCIC/SCOPE capabilities are for field use to assist Bureau personnel with criminal justice inquiries and/or temporary wanted person entries if immediately necessary. The same procedures governing this policy for desktop access to NCJIS/NCIC/SCOPE apply to the MCT’s. Bureau personnel will utilize the appropriate passwords to access the MCT programs as well as criminal justice links to NCJIS/NCIC/SCOPE. Personnel in the field may engage these links when they are in the vehicle or whenever the MCT laptop is with them (mobile) and they are in a secure environment to view the screen. When Bureau personnel are away from the MCT laptop, the MCT shall be logged off so that re-entry into the MCT’s programs is required and password protected.
  1. The Supervisor of Fire Investigations - Bomb Squad or his/her designee, will perform validation of records. Along with the validation listing, two (2) letters will be received from the Control Terminal Agency (CTA). One letter is used to acknowledge receipt of the validation material. This acknowledgment letter must be returned to the CTA within ten (10) working days of the postmarked date of the envelope. The second letter is for this agency to certify that it has validated the indicated records. Validation certification means that (1) the records contained on the validation listing have been reviewed by this agency; (2) the records which are no longer current have been removed from NCJIS/NCIC, and that all records remaining in the system are valid and active; (3) all records contain all available information; and (4) the information contained in each of the records is accurate. This certification letter must be returned to the CTA within forty-five (45) days of the date indicated on the acknowledgment. Failure to return the certification to the CTA within the specified time will result in the CTA purging from the system, all of this agency’s records which were the subject of said validation listing. The Supervisor of Fire Investigations - Bomb Squad is designated by the Chief of the Department to sign record validations as the Agency Administrator.