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Newport News Police Department
5. The responding supervisor, as appropriate, shall: [83.2.1]
a. Confirm that appropriate medical assistance has been summonsed/provided as necessary. [4.1.5]
b. Notify the Internal Affairs Division and the involved officer’s precinct/division commander.
c. Ensure that the scene has been protected and witnesses identified and detained.
d. Coordinate the activities of responding backup units.
e. Ensure that photographs of the scene are taken. [83.2.2]
f. Locate and record the position of any spent casings and other relevant evidence.
g. Immediately notify the Forensic Services Unit to take possession of all utilized firearms and
magazines from the officer involved in instances associated with a use of force against an
individual and any other instance as deemed appropriate by the responding supervisor.
NOTE: If the circumstances of the firearm discharge will prompt a criminal investigation, the
firearm will be handled as evidence of a crime. If it is part of the crime scene, it will
be secured as such.
h. If the officer is relieved of the weapon, as set out above, notify the armorer to respond with a
temporary replacement weapon, which will be provided to the involved officer.
i. Ensure that a Use of Force report entry is completed; [4.2.1(a)]
NOTE: If the discharge is unintentional and there was no injury resulting from the discharge,
an Unintentional Firearms Discharge report in Axon Standards should be completed.
[4.2.1(a)]
j. Ensure that in those cases where an injury or death occurs as a result of an officer discharging
their firearm, an incident report is completed in RMS; and [82.2.1(a,b)]
k. Be responsible for submitting all reports as required by the department prior to securing from duty,
including all required Workers’ Compensation reports. [82.2.1(e)]
6. A firearms discharge that occurs outside the City of Newport News and involves no criminal
implications will be investigated administratively by the Internal Affairs Division. The same
guidelines as stated above in Section III. G. 1-5 will be followed.
NOTE: If the discharge results in a criminal investigation by the agency of the jurisdiction in
which the incident occurred, the Internal Affairs Division will conduct an administrative
investigation in conjunction with the outside agency’s investigation.
H. Departmental Response to Use of Force
1. Any officer whose actions result in the death or serious physical injury of another shall be removed
from their current duty assignment pending an administrative review. The officer may be placed on
a temporary assignment, if deemed appropriate by the Chief of Police, pending the outcome of the
administrative review. [4.2.3; 26.3.7]
2. If the use of force incident involves the discharge of a firearm, a critical incident, or other traumatic
experience, the officer may be required to submit to a psychological assessment from a licensed
psychologist pursuant to ADM-330 Employee Psychological Services.
a. Results of the psychological assessment will be reported to the Chief of Police and the
Department of Human Resources.
b. Officers referred for other treatment by the contracted psychological services provider will notify
their supervisor. The supervisor shall make the necessary arrangements through the Department
of Human Resources.
NOTE: The Department of Human Resources determines if the referral is covered under
Workers’ Compensation or is the responsibility of the employee. In either case, no officer
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