Opinion ID: 4549131
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: BIA Handbook

Text: The BIA Handbook does not address the blackout approach. Mr. Martinez acknowledges that “[t]here are no official BIA or SUPD policies, procedures, or other guidelines regarding the blackout approach. Use of the blackout approach is left to officer discretion . . . .” Aplt. Br. at 5 (citing App. at 163-64). Even so, Mr. Martinez argues the Officers violated the following provisions of the BIA Handbook when they used the blackout approach: (1) “All commissioned police officers will wear the approved and issued police uniform when on duty,” App. at 1305; (2) “Officers not in uniform will fully identify themselves as officers and exhibit their badges or credentials prior to initiating any field interview,” id. at 1307; and (3) When “initiat[ing] a contact” with the public, officers must “identify themselves as law enforcement officers as soon as possible if it is not evident,” and must avoid “force or coercion,” id. at 1306. Mr. Martinez argues that these policies prohibited the Officers from using the blackout approach. We disagree because the Officers did not violate these provisions. First, Officers Herrera and Backer wore standard-issue police jackets that were part of their uniforms. App. at 305-06, 382, 510, 1093. Officer Mitchell wore his standard gray police uniform without a jacket. Id. at 219. They did not, therefore, violate the BIA requirement that “police officers will wear the approved and issued police 11 uniform,” App. at 1305, nor the provision pertaining to “[o]fficers not in uniform,” id. at 1307. Second, although the Officers did not identify themselves as police as they approached the property, they did not “initiate a contact” with Mr. Martinez. Id. at 1306. He did when he ran out from behind a bush waving a bat and yelling. Officer Herrera testified that, had she been able to initiate contact with Mr. Martinez, she had “[no] intention of concealing [her] identity as a police officer.” Id. at 995. Officers Mitchell and Backer gave similar testimony. See id. at 323-24, 415-16. The Officers did not, therefore, violate the provision that they identify themselves as police and avoid force or coercion when “initiat[ing] a contact” with the public. Id. at 1306. Third, the trial testimony supports that the BIA Handbook allowed the blackout approach. BIA Chief of Police, John Roberts Burge, testified that the Officers’ approach was consistent with the Handbook. Id. at 1116-18. Officer Mitchell also noted that police field training teaches the blackout approach and instructs officers to use the approach “depend[ing] on the nature of the contact and prior history with the residence itself and also the people that [the officers are] attempting to contact.” Id. at 281. The SUPD teaches officers that use of the approach is “situationally dependent.” Id. at 785.5 5 Although Officer Mitchell said during cross examination at trial that some of the BIA Handbook’s provisions seem inconsistent with the blackout approach, App. at 381-84, our analysis above shows those sections do not prohibit the blackout approach. 12 In short, Mr. Martinez has not shown that the Officers’ use of the blackout approach violated a “specifically prescribe[d] . . . course of action” in the BIA Handbook. Garling, 849 F.3d at 1295 (quotations omitted).