The obligation of the police when someone make a report.

When a report is made to the police, the first obligation of the police is to make an official record of the persons visit to the police and what was the nature of the visit.

After which the police will examine the content of your story to see if the nature of the report constitutes an offence for which the police has Jurisdiction over Criminal. Please take note, the police has Jurisdiction only over those offences that constitutes criminal offences, infractions and violation.

There are some offences that the police has Jurisdiction over that he cannot deal with unless he witnessed it himself.

Then the police must informed the person if that report meets the criteria of reports the police are authorized to deal with. If it is not the police must informed the persons of that fact and give them further but basic information as to what other steps they can take.

The police should basically say to the person, the report you are making is a civil matter, the police don't have the authority to deal with civil matter. You should to contact a lawyer or the court, the court staff can direct you on how to file a civil case without a lawyer." It is important to note; the police is not to tell the person which lawyer to go to, etc.

 If the report falls under the class of reports the police has authority to deal with, when a report is made, he must informed the person on the police policy on dealing with such offences, and find out what the complainant will have the police do on their behalf.

The complainant wishes must be followed except for cases of Rape, domestic abuse, child abuse and of course murder. All of the above category of offences must be investigated regardless if the complainant wants the police to or not.

The next step that should be taken is: a written and signed record of the persons story must be made, an investigate must be carried out to determine it the report or what part of the report that was made is the truth. after the investigation a decision will be made if to
prosecute or not.

Law Enforcement Cell Phone Technology Keeping them them honest.

As of recent, a lot of law enforcement officers, Law enforcement administrators, and law enforcement unions representatives have became concern, about the celephone technology and the social media revolution.

Some are of the opinion that law enforcement officers are unable to do their job and therefore are unable to protect the community, they are obligated to protect. A large number of the operational aw enforcement officers are of the opinion that they unable to function in their capacity. This can have serious consequence for the community as a whole. This could spell inactivity on behalf of the police when called to a report. Which will defeat the purpose of law enforcement.

law enforcement officers of all ranks, and their respective representatives (Union), have been propagating that the officer’s hands are tied in the execution of their duties. Some went as far to say that they are unable to act even in the defense of themselves, from and against criminal who they are required to apprehend and take into custody.

However, as a former police officer who have served in two sovereign jurisdiction, I am of the opinion that the forging argument of the law enforcement personnel, law enforcement supervisors, law enforcement managers and law enforcement unions are not justifiable; as a matter of fact, this argument is silly. Technology do not hampers the law enforcement personnel's ability to do their work; however, technology is a tool that aids to protect the law enforcement officers in the line of their duties; and in the same process, keep the community safe.

Let us take the time to delve into this topic just a little; we must first come to the conclusion that the police, is not an authority to themselves; the police are the enforcers and the guardian of the law they are not the law. In the enforcement of the law the police has a sworn obligation to follow the law, while the execution of their “Lawful Duty.” The law enforcement has several obligation to the community, the chief of which are to:

 1. To protect the community from seen and unseen harm and danger.

2. To prevent Crime from being committee.

3. And to detect crimes when they are committed within and against members of the community.

The law enforcement officers do not only have an obligation to the law abiding community; but the law enforcement officer, also has an obligation to the offending or the criminal community. We must never forget that criminals are members of the community and the police also has an obligations to, follow the law, when dealing with the criminal demographic of the community in the execution of their duties. For too long, too many rogue police officers, took liberty to abused the system and their authority, and many people suffered at the hands of these police officers who thought nothing of bluntly lying to the police authorities, civilian investigators and the court, to achieve and accomplished a personal and selfish end.

Let us take into consideration, a police take an individual before the court, the police and the civilian had conflicting stories as it relates to the incident that brought them before the court. Who will the judge believe the civilian or the police officer? Yes you are correct. The judge will more likely believe the lies of the officers as true for the following reason:

1. The law enforcement officer are sworn law enforcement officer and therefore are duty bound base on their oath.

2. The law enforcement are a part of the criminal justice system and is a respected professional.

3. law enforcement officers are paid servant of the government and is expected to be honest.

However, there are too many rogue police officers who delight in imposing themselves on the right of the civilian community.

In my opinion law enforcement is the easiest job there is, and any law enforcement officer who follow these simple rules in the execution of their duties, will not have a problem with the fame hungry members of the community, who are quick to pull out their camera and video every incident just in case there is something that can launch their video into a trending video in cyberspace.

Each time a law enforcement officer act, that law enforcement officer must always be able to and at all times; justify their actions. It is only when a law enforcement officer cannot justify his or her actions they end up in trouble. Each law enforcement officer has several obligations to the community when the reason, arise to deal with member of the community in an adversarial (offender – enforcer) level. Some of those obligations can be summed up as probable cause and identifications.

A police must never approach a member of the community, in an adversarial (to confront them for some violations) context unless they have probable cause or a legal authority to do so. And a lawful authority or probable cause are:

1. A valid suspicion(acting on information or observations)
2. A valid report that was made.
3. Or the officer had witnessed commission of an offence.

which in this case can even be a simple infraction.

However apart from that, the officer has no lawful duty or obligation to approached anyone and make any demand of any such person. And in the case where a report was made, the officer has an obligation to examine the content of the report and see if anything within that report gives him a lawful authority to act and if not he must refrain from doing so. When an officer is called upon to approach the member of the public in an adversarial manner, he has some obligations to the members of the public the first is to;
a) Introduce him or her selves – Tell the person their full name their office (police officer) and serial number.

b) Informed the person of they reason for initiating this confrontation. A report of a crime, a suspicion of the commission of a crime of an observations.

c) Informed the person of their rights.

 From my experience most confrontation between police and the civilian community only happens when a police become strong handed and fail to live up to their responsibility to the individual and omit to do one of the these stages especially point b).

We must never forget, at all times a law enforcement officer, must always be able to truthfully and lawfully justify his or her actions. With this in mind, I will conclude, the only thing that has change in the world of law enforcement is the ability of dishonest and rogue law enforcement officers to lie about their conduct and actions, walk away without being held responsible and accountable for their illegal and oppressive actions. Any police officer who is intimidated by the modern cell phone technology and technology its self and hold fast to the opinion that they are not allowed to police the community effectively, are those who has the potential to and or those who have often disregard the law that governs their actions, their authority to act and the way the acts.

I have no brother but truth!

I have no brother but the truth, for the truth stands alone.

The truth has no friend, no acquaintance and knows no controversy;
it cannot be, tarnished, replaced, and neither can it be discredited.
The truth is what it is: it is simply the truth.
It is the truth that convicts the guilty and acquits the innocent;
It is the truth that shames kings, cause the humble to rejoice
And lends clarity to the confusion of life’s mysteries.
The truth stands alone and tall among cheap imitation of its self: lies.
The truth points the earnest seeker to freedom and abundant life,
Although the truth is hated it is of the most value,
Even though it is rejected, the truth cannot be abandon,
The truth is a light that illuminates the darkness and unveil mysteries.
The truth is my brother.

I have no Sister But Justice

I have no sister but Justice, for justice is blinded by her lofty ideals, and is consumed by her never ending task;
She does not see as men does, but she is guided by her calling.
She stands ignorant to the divisions and prejudice that society holds dear,
Justice concerns not herself with right or wrong, wins and lost,
But only if the act was justified within the context in which she adjudicates.
She knows no fear, has no sympathy, experience no love, harbours no hate and experiences no lost,
She has no relations or similarity to the system, that fraudulently bears her name.
She has perfected and with skill practice the art of dispensing awards: consequence.
She awards righteousness with rewards and gives punishments for transgressions.
Karma is her only tool; Karma is perfect in vigilance nothing escapes her view,
Or break hold of her grasp; Karma exist only to ensure that Justice is done.
For justice will and must be done.

Statement Writing - Initating an investigation

A Statement is a written account of an incident as told by a complaint (the person who is filing a complaint) a witness (a person that have important information about the incident) or a defendant (a person who is alleged to have commit an offence), to be used as part of an investigations or to initiate some legal proceeding. 

There are two type of witness statements. There is the: 

1. complaint statement: Most complainant statement are given by the victim; however, there are cases where a person other then the victim may be reporting the incident, and give a statement to sustain that report and get the wheels of investigation rolling on behalf of someone else. For example, a parent or a guardian of which the victim is a minor, or the victim is a person with mental disability; an elderly person who is in the guardianship of someone else and may not be in full control of their mental faculty; one who is making a report on behalf of one who is seriously injured and otherwise are unable to make the report for themselves or as a community service. 

2. There is general witness statement, which is a statement from anyone with important information that can help the investigation and later be a vital witness in a court proceedings if it comes to that. 

Statement writing in itself is a specialized art, that entails much more than the mere detailing of the series of events that transpired or that constituted an incident. The telling of the story is just one segment of statement writing. Many people are often tempted to write their own statements because who can tell their story better than they can, after all, they were the ones involved in the incident from which the report is being made or they saw what happened. But it may not be the best idea for witnesses to write their own statement. In another issue, I will deal with witness who want to and insist on writing their own statements. 

The recording personnel must be a good listener; he must never anticipate what the witness is going to say. He must also allow the witness to express themselves in their own words. They must also abstain from helping the witness finish their sentences, because to do so may aid in influencing the witness to adjust their story to facilitate the recording persons expressed will. It is important that the recording personnel be patient as the witness search for the correct words to express his thoughts. It is also important as possible for the recording officer to use as much as the witness words as possible. 

Although there is no statement without the story that gives an account of the incident that give rise to the investigations, the person who is recording the statement need to be able to do three important things; which are: 

i. The recording person need to be able to write the details of the story in clear, understandable language; giving a chronological account of what happened and using as much as the witness words as possible. 

ii. The recording person must be able to classify the offence that was committed by the act or acts from listening to the account that was related. 

iii. The recording person need to spell out and intertwined in clear and understandable languages the points to prove the offence that was committed within the statement. this is accomplished by asking the correct questions and relating the answers to the question in a connecting and understandable manner.

The above objective can only be accomplished by asking the right questions, to get a clear view of the person’s knowledge of what happened and to qualify the points to prove the offence. and the recording officer's knowledge of the law and what is expected of him as the recording officer. 

Another thing we must remember is; not every police officer, or investigator is capable of writing every statement. As I said above statement writing is a special art and while most police officer, private investigator may have a general idea of how to write a statement, it is always better to leave the statement for the people who are working in the area or field of law enforcement to qualify the offence. They will know best of any change of the law, what is the standard of the court as it relates to the offence in question and how to incorporate the information into the statement to prove the offence. 

A good example of this is a Traffic violation or a traffic accident statement are often best left to the traffic officers, because while in some places a regular traffic offence is a mere infraction, traffic offences are normally offence of negligence, and it is important for that aspect of the offence to be brought out in any witness statement if it is possible. 

Let us use the offence of theft as an example, it is not good enough to just declare that the person takes your property without permission. Because there is some defense to the offence of theft. One of which is; if there is a history between the victim and the alleged defendant and the alleged defendant is of the impression that, the victim would not have mind if he took the alleged stolen item, then the offence of theft was not committed. 

So in the case of theft apart from bring out the regular component of theft, which is, the defendant dishonestly took the property of the victim with the intention of permanently depriving the victim of it. The recording officer need to ensure that he do the following things; 

a) Established in the statement any relationship between the defendant and the victim if there is any, if there is no relationship what so every that must also be made clear. 

b) That victim did not give the defendant permission by verbally expressing it, in writing or did or say anything to implying that (the defendant) they can take the property that is of the center of the complaint. 

c) And the victim is aggrieved over the loss of his property. 

In the case of burglary which can also be a type of theft, or assault as well as damage or destruction of property, but is classified differently because of the nature in which the theft was committed. It is important to prove all of the points that was mentioned above as well as, to show that the defendant entered or part of the defendant entered into a property that he had no permission or right to enter, his entry was an unlawful entry and he did not have any right to the property he took or to do anything unlawful whilst in the property. 

If those points are not made, then the offence will change to either theft or trespassing in one of its varying degrees. It is simple but profound components that must be included in a statement to ensure that the points to prove the incident is laid out clear and plain. This is just scratching the surface of Statement writing, which only get easier the more one practice.

Enhancing the deficent library Emergency System

To: Selena Tarrazas

Manager Los Angeles Public Library

630 West 5^th Street

Los Angeles

California

15:09:2015

Dear Ms. Tarazas

I am taking this opportunity to submit to you this document as it relates to the emergency system at the Los Angeles Public Library, main branch, which is located at 630 West 5 Street, Los Angeles, California 90012.

Introduction:

Every emergency plan has one primary objective which is to: Reduce as much as is humanly possible, the possibility of injuries; loss of life, damage and or the destruction of and to property that may occur in an emergency situations. This can only be accomplished by having a well-established emergency plans, staff who are aware of and understand their role as it relates to the emergency plan, and are unafraid to ensure the same is properly implemented by executing their role as it pertain to the proper implementation of the emergency plan.

Most Emergency plans have a systematic protocol to deal with: basic and predictable emergencies. Most architects must consider such in the design of a building. Therefore, the inclusion of sprinkler system, wheel (wheelchair, Stretchers, and emergency chairs) accessible ramps at entrances and exits are some of the precautions that help to assist in dealing with some of those predictable emergencies. The inclusion of such conveniences, makes it easier to deal with emergencies such as: fire, illnesses and injuries that may occur on premises.  

On Sunday 12 July 2015, at 3: 30 PM, and on Saturday 12^th September 2015 at approximately 11:00 AM, I was at 630 West 5th Street, Los Angeles CA, 90012, which is the address of the main branch, of the Los Angeles Public Library. Whilst I was there, the library emergency system was activated. I do not know, what was responsible for activating the emergency system in the first instance, however; the cause of the activation of the emergency system, which led to the evacuation of the Library were announced on the public address system, during the 12^th September 2015 incident. Although the nature of the activation of the emergency system that leads to the evacuation of the building is not an all-important factor; especially where the patrons are concerned; what is critically important however, is the urgency with which the member of staff safely usher patrons out of the building. From my observation, there was no urgency (not panic) in the manner in which patron was ushered out of the facility.

Fortunately for the patrons, the staff and the library management, especially those who were gathered at the facility, at the time of the activation of the emergency system, the nature of the activations were not serious enough to compromise the safety or cause an immediate threat to life and property of those who inhabited the facility at the time.

It would be a terrible thing, if there was to be an emergency at an institution that invites patrons to use their facilities and service and the entire staff were safe and out of danger; however, patrons were left behind and as a result; the patrons were severely injured and or there were loss of patron’s life. Therefore, it is mandatory, for institutions such as the library, to develop an emergency plan or a well thought out system that gives, Library staff a key role in ensuring there is order during the activation of the emergency system that requires the facility to be evacuated, so that no one (patron or staff) is neglectfully left behind. There must be a system of accountability and that lay the responsibility and the accountability squarely on the shoulders of the library management and staff. There must be a protocol that is fully understood and must be followed in cases, where there is an emergency of any type. There must be different established protocol for dealing with different types of predictable emergencies. For example: a medical emergency should be met with a different response to that of a fire emergency or an outbreak of violence within the premises or the collapse of a structure.

The whole emergency system, is put into place for the protection of patron and staff alike. If the protocols are ignored, then there will be a breakdown of order and what maybe a routine occurrence may otherwise result in injuries, excessive damage or destruction to property and loss of life. When these protocols are followed, the chances of injuries, damage to property and loss of the life of patron and staff are vastly reduced. Library management must also be mindful that a large percent of people that uses the resources of this facility on a daily basis, suffers from a wide range of disabilities. This is an even greater reason why the emergency protocol must be designed to include such people and must be followed and managed by staff on the floor.

A part of the emergency plan, for an institution of the magnitude of the Los Angeles Public Library main branch, should be more in-depth and detail. The emergency system should be carefully considered base on its size of the building; which numbers eight floors, seven of which are open to the public; as well as, the large volume of people this institution entertains on a daily basis.  The library should have an excellent emergency plan that goes deeper than an evacuation plan to deal with emergencies that requires such.

There must be a plan to deal with medical emergencies, which provides assistance to people who have a pre-existing condition, who becomes ill while at the library; as well as people who would have become a causality for the first time while at the library. There should be a fix protocol to deal with any medical emergency that take place at the Los Angeles Public Library. This is to ensure that no patron of the library or library staff, who becomes ill or sustain an injury while at the library, is not neglected, but they are exposed to the opportunity to received proper or expert medical attention,

It is always wise, to do regular review of the Emergency system, during the review process of the system, decision maker and safety professionals, will take time to review the old system, consider new and other suggestions to improve the system. It is also critical that management ensure staff are trained and brought up to date with the changes and updates that were made to the Emergency System. Below I will lay out some suggestions and it is my opinion that if these suggestion are taken seriously and are properly implemented, they can be beneficial in reducing the possibilities of injuries, loss of life, damage and destruction to property.

Protocol for Medical emergencies:

When there is a medical emergency of any type, at the library, the EMT on duty or any staff with any medical experience must be informed and dispatched to the point of distress to render whatever aid his experience, training and or knowledge will afford him to give; (Such person is covered from law suit under the Good Samaritan Legislation). If the victim is lucid, the Library staff must first get permission from the distressed person to touch and or help him or her as well as to activate the EMS medical system on the sick or injured person’s behalf. The staff must ask the patient directly. In cases where the library staff is going to render medical help of any kind to a patient, the staff must first say to the victim, I am going to help you is that ok? Before any action is taken by the library staff, he or she must first get a signal or verbal approval before absolutely any action is taken on the victim’s behalf. Before summoning the EMS medical help the library staff must also get permission from all lucid victims by asking a direct question such as: You need medical help, would you like for me to call the ambulance so that they can received professional medical care you need. At the lucid person’s request (either by signs or verbal communication) the EMS medical system must be immediately activated. If the victim refused to activate the EMS medical system, then the Library staff should asked if there is anything they can do for them and suggest to the person; to call a family member, guardian or a friend etc.

If the person is unconscious, Simi-conscious, drifting in an out of consciousness or do not appear to be in the best mental (intoxicated, under the influence of some mode altering substance, delirium etc.) position or state of mind to make a rational decisions as it relates to his or her health, the Library staff must immediately and without delay activate the EMS medical system. In cases of serious medical emergencies, available and responsible staff to solicit the help of any available person: staff and or patron to assist the victim who is in medical distress that is outside their scope of knowledge. The staff must then activate the EMS medical system and to remain with the patient until the arrival of EMS (police, fire or Paramedic/Emergency Medical Technician) staff.

In Medical Emergency the Library Staff should never abandon a sick staff and or patron who has requested the activation of the EMS medical system, in the care and custody of anyone whether, or not they Identifies or declare themselves a doctor, a nurse or any other trained or other qualify person within the medical community except for the members of a uniformed established EMS team, who will be responsible for administering on site medical care and the transportation to a medical facility if that is required.

The Urgency of the activation

In cases where the facility have to be evacuated, it does not matter how serious the perceived threat or threats are, the emergency protocol should be followed with the vigor as if the threat was serious and known. We must remember that practice do not make perfect, for if you practice a thing wrong, you will perfect that thing the wrong way; as a result, the implementation or execution of such will be wrong. But perfect practice make perfect. Thus if the plan is executed each time with an urgency, following the protocol in practice then when there is an emergency that requires a fast and urgent evacuation, then the staff will be in the frame of mind to get the job done because they would have practice their role with seriousness and urgency. Below are what in my opinion should have happened. I also add on a small extension, which will cover the actions of the Library security when the Emergency system have been activated.

• Who is responsible for clearing the room:
  The staff who are responsible for managing the department are responsible for managing the clearing of the department and starting the evacuation of patrons from that floor of the library to the central exit point or away from the danger.
• Floor clearing protocol:

1. the senior member of the team must in loud, calm, clear tone announce:
   "Please stop what you are doing and evacuate the library now.
2. Then the junior person will in the same manner again make the same announcement.
3. The senior person will go to the rear of the room making the same announcement at the back of the room, checks should also be made of both washrooms (male and female) to ensure there is no one left behind, are uninformed or unaccounted for.
   The checks to the washrooms should be conducted by the senior staff on the floor. As it is the senior staff who will be accountable for the events that occur on their floor.
   The Senior Library staff on the floor, will leave his floor after the last patron is off the floor. It is only then that staff will make his way to the safe zone.
   Disable or partially able staff
   Senior staff who are working with a member of staff that have some mobility impairment may allow his impaired colleague to leave his or her post, immediately after the bathroom have been checked and cleared. This can be beneficial to all if there is an escalation of the emergency and quick or rush actions is required.
   Lift Protocol (Escalators and elevators)
   Escalators:
   Members from the maintenance team will be responsible for shutting down the escalator that is leading away from the point of safety. Which will more than likely be towards the first floor or the basement where there are lawful means of exiting the building.
   The stopping of the escalator that leads away from the point of safety, will achieve the following objectives:

1. allow for a greater volume of people leaving the various floors in the direction of the exits/safty
2. It prevents anyone from re-entering the area that library staff is trying to clear
3. It gives EMS personnel easy and safe access path to and from the various floors.
   Elevators:
   Members of the maintenance team must be dispatched to man the elevators in the initial period of the evacuation. Their main responsibility will be to ensure that people who are confined to wheel chairs, who get around with the aid of walkers, Kane and others walking devices or who have walking impediments are safely transported to a point where they can be safely exit the building.
   Duties of the Library Security (LS) in the activation of the emergency system.
   The primary duties and responsibilities of the Library Security when the emergency system is activated are/should be as follows:

1. To notify E.M.S and or other appropriate response agencies about the emergency.
2.  To investigate and confirmed the location, cause and nature of the activation.
3.  To contain or eliminate the threat (threat to health, life and safety) that cause the alarm activation if possible.
4.  To meet brief and direct the responding EMS agencies as to the nature of the alarm, location actions taken operation zone and other useful information that may help the responding agencies effectively deal with the emergency.
5.  To assist in the movement of sick, injured victims, to designated safe zones.
   On arrival of the responding EMS agencies and after they assuming control of the scene, the security personal must on request of emergency commanders:

1. Be assigned to specific floors.
2. LS will search the floor including washrooms, to ensure the floor are free from stranded patron and staff.
3.  Library Security must report findings to control.
4. Upon completion of searching of the department/ floors the security officer must then relief the library staff on their respective floor.
5. The Library security will follow evacuation protocol as stated above until the facility is completely evacuated.
   This emergency response system must be followed but it is subject to change by the controlling responding (EMS, Bomb squad etc.) agency base on the need to do so.
   Sign. ___Allan H. F Palmer___                                                                     
               Allan H. F. Palmer
   Cc: Chief Aguirre
   Chief of Library Security
                                                              

investigating an offence

Because of discussions I have been involved in with some of my ex-colleague and other members of my community on Facebook and other forums, I have been made aware that there is a deficit of knowledge as it relates to the responsibilities of and other key elements of the operation of the police service, force, department, etc., even among serving policing officers. 

It is my desire, therefore, to use my knowledge and understanding of this field to fill this gap in this series entitled Police 101, of which this is my fourth submission.

It is no secret that we are living in a troubled world and because of this well-known fact there are valid reasons for the existence of the police as an institution within the community.One of the services the police provide is: they entertain reports from an injured party (a victim/complainant) or on behalf of an injured party (in this case the reporting person is called the complainant).
Another of the responsibilities of the police is to investigate offences that were committed or are alleged to have been committed. With this in mind, when a report is made or the police receive information that an offence has been committed or is about to be committed. Base on the characteristics of the offence it may be a criminal offence or a non-criminal offence, the first responsibility of the officer entertaining the report is to verify whether an offence has been committed or if the allegations are strong enough for a reasonable person to conclude that there is a possibility that an offense will be committed. He or she does so by listening to the story of the complainant.
The officer has the obligation to inform the complainant of the legal term of the offence, and the type of and possible course of action the police could lawfully take against the offender on behalf of complainant or injured party (the party who was wronged), which may include advising the injured party to take other private actions on his own; such as civil litigation to recover financial damages, etc.
The next step will depend on the type of offence, and the seriousness of the offence that was committed. Let’s say, for example, the offence was a misdemeanor and the level of the damage was small, e.g. a brushed ego. The injured party may just want to lodge a report with the police for a matter of record.
After outlining the possible actions the police can take on the victim’s behalf, the police should then find out what course of action the complainant would like the police to take on his or her behalf. It is important to note that such actions can vary from full prosecution, to the issuing of a warning not to cause a re-occurrence of the incident, or the victim may derive satisfaction from the act of making a report to the police against the offending person.
With that said, however, in instances where an offence was committed and the injuries and or loss to the complainant or victims are great, then the officer must consider a more meaningful course of action. In this case, meaningful course of action may mean or involve taking actions to: 
• Immediately resolve a resolvable problem, 
• Prevent the escalation of the problem. 
• Ensure that offender(s) is brought to justice. 
• Or any other course of actions that may be appropriate in restoring the harmony within the community. 
In some jurisdictions, the injured party’s wishes on all offences must be followed, but in other jurisdictions there are certain offences that, once reported, the injured party cannot withdraw the matter -- offences such as those of a domestic nature, or offences against children, rape etc.. Such offences are always investigated with a view to imminent prosecution.

If the police officer, from the information obtained, concludes that there is a great possibility that an offense may be committed, then the police officer has an obligation to put the necessary resources in place to prevent that offense from being committed; However, the actions the officer takes should be based on the extent of the possible impact and the classification of the offense. On the other hand, if from the information obtained the officer is of the impression that  an offence was actually committed, the officer must first determined, is this an offence that I have the authority to deal with base on the evidence of a witness. If it is, then the officer must take the necessary steps base on the law and the department policies. His next step is to classify the offense; he must thus determine if the offence was a criminal or non-criminal offence. The officer is then required to follow the law, the institution's (police) policy, or institution’s standing orders in dealing with the matter.