HomeMy WebLinkAboutC-9010-1 - Cooperative Agreement for Joint Special Weapons and Tactical Repsonse Team1
--� COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT FOR
JOINT SPECIAL WEAPONS AND TACTICAL RESPONSE TEAM
BETWEEN THE CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH AND
V THE CITY OF LAGUNA BEACH
THIS COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT FOR JOINT SPECIAL WEAPONS AND
TACTICAL RESPONSE TEAM ("Agreement") is entered into this s day of 14DV •
2022("Effective Date"), and is made by and between the City of Newport Beach
("Newport"), a California municipal corporation and charter city with address 100 Civic
Center Drive, Newport Beach, California, 92660, and the City of Laguna Beach
("Laguna"), a California general law city with address 505 Forest Avenue, Laguna Beach,
California, 92651. The foregoing parties are collectively referred to herein as the "Parties,"
and individually as "Party."
RECITALS
A. The Parties share geographic proximity and overlapping demand for police
response, sometimes to high -risk incidents, which may require the use of a team of
officers with special training in weapons, tactical operations, and deescalating skills.
B. The Parties recognize that mutual aid and cooperation in response to high -
risk incidents can be improved by combining resources for operation of a joint special
weapons and tactical response team.
C. The Parties recognize that to successfully resolve a tactical situation, the
proper tactical options must be available, including but not limited to, a properly trained
team possessing special weapons, tactical, and deescalating skills.
D. The Parties recognize that a properly trained team possessing special
weapons, tactical, and deescalating skills is crucial for achieving an effective response,
and that maintaining such a team is important even when the threat potential is low in
order to maintain a high state of readiness.
E. The Parties recognize that a well -managed, trained, and skilled special
weapons and tactical response team available to respond to high -risk incidents reduces
the risk of injury and loss of life to residents, police officers, and suspects, and will
enhance overall effective regional communication and operation for area -wide law
enforcement.
F. The Parties recognize that law enforcement resources are limited, and that
joint participation in a special weapons and tactical response furthers each Party's goal
of making the most efficient use of the law enforcement resources at its disposal.
G. The Parties desire to respond faster to high -risk incidents, with enhanced
local control, a more consistent response, specialized personnel, and with the ability to
muster a combined larger group of officers than either Party could muster alone.
H. The Parties desire to enter into this Agreement in order to establish the
terms and conditions upon which to implement a joint special weapons and tactical
response team comprised of members of the Parties' respective police departments.
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the above recitals and the mutual
covenants set forth herein, and for other valuable consideration, the receipt and the
sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the Parties hereby agree as follows:
1. SWAT
1.1. The Parties agree to assign qualified police officers of their respective police
departments to serve as members of a joint special tactical unit, known as the
Newport Beach Police Department Special Weapons and Tactics team ("SWAT").
1.2. The Parties do not intend to establish a separate legal entity, and SWAT
shall not be deemed or construed as a separate legal entity.
1.3. Each Party shall be, and shall remain at all times, the sole and exclusive
employer of its police officers assigned to SWAT.
2. Purpose and Intent. It is the intent of the Parties that this Agreement facilitate a more
efficient utilization of police services and resources, an enhanced degree of
cooperation between law enforcement agencies within the participating communities,
a more timely and effective response to calls for specialized police assistance, and
adequate numbers and levels of well -trained law enforcement officers to resolve crisis
and high -risk situations.
3. Term. The initial term of this Agreement shall commence on the Effective Date and
continue through December 31, 2023, unless otherwise terminated in accordance with
the provisions of this Agreement ("Initial Term"). This Agreement shall automatically
extend for successive one (1) year periods (each a "Renewal Term") on the same
terms and conditions as set forth in this Agreement unless either Party notifies the
other Party in writing of its intention not to extend this Agreement at least sixty (60)
days prior to the expiration of the Initial Term or any Renewal Term, as applicable.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the total term of this Agreement shall not exceed five
(5) years. Either Party may terminate this Agreement with or without cause at any time
upon sixty (60) days prior written notice to the other Party.
4. Personnel and Supervision.
4.1. SWAT shall consist of a Tactical Team, and a Crisis Negotiations Team.
Each team configuration may be comprised of as many sub -teams or reserve
teams as needed for a particular incident.
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4.2. Each Party shall assign and maintain qualified police officers for SWAT
sufficient to provide appropriate joint coverage for high -risk incidents in either
Party's jurisdiction.
4.3. The Parties shall jointly establish minimum qualifications for assignment to
SWAT of their respective police officers, which shall include physical agility and
tactical firearms qualifications, and shall establish an appropriate selection process
which shall equal or exceed the existing standards established by the Newport
Beach Police Department.
4.4. Each Party shall be solely responsible to provide, maintain, and pay for all
equipment required by SWAT for its respective officers.
4.5. While participating in any high -risk incidents or training exercises, any police
officer assigned to SWAT shall be subject to the exclusive chain of command of
SWAT, as described in this Agreement.
4.6. Any and all internal affairs investigations shall be referred to and performed
by the Party employing the respective officer involved in the conduct to be
reviewed. If officers from both Parties are involved in the conduct to be reviewed,
the Parties shall pursue a joint investigation only if both Parties agree. In the event
of an investigation of a SWAT officer involved shooting, such investigation shall be
handled in accordance with the general guidelines contained in the Orange County
County -Wide Officer Involved Fatal Incident Protocol. Any administrative or
disciplinary action resulting from such investigations shall be within the exclusive
discretion of the employing Party.
4.7. Each Party is, and shall remain, responsible for all pay, benefits, duties and
obligations earned or due to its officers assigned to SWAT, including but not limited
to, base salary, overtime salary, fringe benefits, allowances, consideration,
compensation, reimbursement, uniforms, ammunition, firearms, Worker's
Compensation, retirement benefits, and any and all other benefits, consideration,
duties, or obligations of employment.
5. SWAT Commander. The Chief of Police for the City of Newport Beach shall appoint a
SWAT Commander ("SWAT Commander"), who shall serve at the discretion of the
Chief of Police for the City of Newport Beach. The SWAT Commander or his/her
designee shall direct the day-to-day activities of SWAT, including but not limited to,
supervising personnel, assigning and directing investigations, reviewing and
approving reports, maintaining liaison with the law enforcement administrators and
staff of the Parties, facilitating in-service training and assigning personnel to training
courses, and coordinating training offered to personnel of participating agencies and
ensuring the ongoing competence, fitness, and proficiency of SWAT personnel.
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6. Amendments. Amendments or modifications to this Agreement may be proposed at
any time by either Party. Such suggestions shall be submitted to the Chief of Police
of the City of Newport Beach, who may assign a designee(s) to meet and confer with
the Parties prior to the implementation of changes to this Agreement. No amendment
shall be effective unless in writing and signed by both Parties.
7. SWAT Participation. This Agreement is strictly voluntary and places neither Party
under any obligation to respond to a request for SWAT that the Party is unable or
unwilling to honor for any reason. Both Parties should make every accommodation to
allow its respective SWAT members the opportunity to respond to a request for SWAT.
8. Policies and Procedures and Guidelines. The Parties shall establish additional written
policies, procedures, and/or guidelines for the operation, formation, and
implementation of SWAT as the Parties find necessary or convenient. Any such
additional policies, procedures, and/or guidelines shall conform to the California
Standardized Emergency Management System requirements, including, but not
limited to, executive oversight of SWAT, chain of command and control over the high -
risk incident responses, and procedures for activation of SWAT in response to high -
risk incidents. Such policies, procedures, and/or guidelines shall require each officer
assigned to SWAT to use no greater than the amount of force objectively reasonable
to effectively bring an incident under control. In the event of a conflict between the
terms of any policy, procedure, and/or guidelines, the terms of this Agreement shall
control.
9. SWAT Activation.
9.1. Either Party may call for SWAT activation, and shall thereby assume the
role of supervising agency ("Supervising Agency").
9.2. A Party may not call for SWAT activation for the purpose of conducting
SWAT activity primarily within the jurisdiction of the other Party without the other
Party's consent.
9.3. For deployment to an unplanned high -risk incident or preplanned event (for
example, high -risk arrest/search warrant), each Party shall follow its own
established internal policies and protocols governing request for SWAT.
9.4. A representative of the requesting Party shall notify the assisting Party as
soon as possible with specifics on the nature of the call -out, personnel and other
resources needed, and the location to which the assisting Party is to respond.
9.5. Requests for assistance may be honored under this Agreement when
received in any of the following ways:
S
9.5.1. Chief Law Enforcement Officer or designee of the requesting Party
to the SWAT Commander or his/her designee;
9.5.2. Multi -jurisdictional task force unit director to the SWAT Commander
or his/her designee.
10. Incident Commander.
10.1. The Supervising Agency shall assign an incident commander who shall be
a police officer at the command officer or watch commander level ("Incident
Commander"). The Incident Commander shall identify the scope of the incident
and overall goal of SWAT involvement. The Incident Commander shall
communicate incident details and goals to the SWAT Commander. The SWAT
Commander shall be in command of physical operations of SWAT in terms of the
movement and actions of SWAT necessary to achieve the goal of the operation as
set forth by the Incident Commander.
10.2. The Incident Commander shall fully brief the SWAT Commander or his or
her designee of all known details and circumstances associated with the incident.
Once the situation has been fully briefed and the mission is assigned, the
execution of that assignment will be determined by the SWAT Commander or
his/her designee. When an operational plan is developed, the Incident Commander
for the requesting Party shall be briefed, when possible, by the SWAT Commander
or his/her designee prior to the execution of the plan.
11. Scope of Response. The scope of the response shall be determined by the specific
circumstances surrounding the request. Best efforts shall be made to respond as soon
as possible with all due care and caution. Among the types of high -risk incidents to
which SWAT may respond include, but are not limited to:
11.1. High -risk warrant service which will include the SWAT Commander,
Supervisor, Leader(s) and members sufficient to safely serve the search/arrest
warrant;
11.2. Protective details such as executive/witness/show/money/evidence;
11.3. High -risk surveillance whether fixed or mobile;
11.4. Undercover officer support on high -risk operations;
11.5. Barricaded suspect operations with or without hostage operations;
11.6. Anti -sniper operations;
11.7. High -risk kidnap or extortion operations;
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11.8. Emergency rescues, such as injured officer or citizen;
11.9. High -risk arrests, searches, seizures, or vehicle stops;
11.10. Crowd control;
11.11. Mass arrest;
11.12. Any other incident as determined appropriate by the SWAT Commander
where the ordinary patrol and departmental resources of the handling Party have
been exhausted or the incident is beyond the control of the Party.
12. Defense and Indemnity.
12.1. For the purposes of this Section 12 only, and regardless of which Party is
the actual employer or principal of SWAT personnel, SWAT and all SWAT
personnel shall be deemed to be the agent of:
12.1.1. The Party within whose jurisdiction SWAT activity takes place
provided that Party called for activation of SWAT or consented to the SWAT
activity within its jurisdiction;
12.1.2. The Supervising Agency in the event SWAT activity takes
place outside the jurisdiction of either Party, takes place across multiple
jurisdictions, or takes place without the other Party's consent;
12.1.3. Both Parties jointly and equally in the event SWAT is activated
at the request of both Parties in order to participate in a multi -jurisdictional
operation.
12.2. Each Party is prohibited from taking any action in furtherance of this
Agreement that violates civil rights or is a constitutional violation.
12.3. Any act, policy, statement, ordinance, regulation or decision formally or
informally adopted or promulgated by one Party, whether express or implied, shall
not be deemed imputed or adopted by the other Party unless expressly so
adopted.
12.4. To the fullest extent permitted by law, a Party (herein, "Indemnifying Party")
shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless the other Party and its City Council,
boards and commissions, officers, agents, volunteers, and employees
(collectively, the "Other Parties") from and against any and all claims (including,
without limitation, claims for bodily injury, death or damage to property), demands,
obligations, damages, actions, causes of action, suits, losses, judgments, fines,
penalties, liabilities, costs and expenses (including, without limitation, attorneys'
fees, disbursements and court costs) of every kind and nature whatsoever
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(individually, a "Claim"; collectively, "Claims"), which may arise from or in any
manner relate (directly or indirectly) to any and all of the following:
12.4.1. Any breach of the terms or conditions of this Agreement by
the Indemnifying Party;
12.4.2. The Indemnifying Party's conduct arising out of, in connection
with, or related to this Agreement;
12.4.3. Any conduct of SWAT while SWAT is deemed an agent of the
Indemnifying Party pursuant to Section 12.1.
12.5. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing herein shall be construed to require
the Indemnifying Party to provide defense or indemnity of Other Parties from any
Claim arising out of the Other Parties' sole negligence or willful misconduct, with
the exception that for the purpose of this Section 12.5, "Other Parties" shall not
include SWAT and SWAT personnel while SWAT is deemed an agent of the
Indemnifying Party pursuant to Section 12.1. Nothing in this indemnity shall be
construed as authorizing any award of attorneys' fees in any action on or to enforce
the terms of this Agreement. This indemnity shall apply to all claims and liability
regardless of whether any insurance policies are applicable. The policy limits do
not act as a limitation upon the amount of indemnification to be provided.
13.Insurance. Each Party shall obtain, provide and maintain at its own expense during
the term of this Agreement, policies of insurance sufficient to cover any liabilities,
including, but not limited to, general liability, auto liability, workers' compensation and
employer's liability accruing from this Agreement.
14.Administration. This Agreement shall be administered by the Police Department of
each of the Parties. The Police Chief of Newport Beach Police Department or
designee shall be the Project Administrator for Newport, and the Police Chief of
Laguna Beach Police Department or designee shall be the Project Administrator for
Laguna. The Project Administrators shall represent the Parties in all matters pertaining
to the administration of this Agreement.
15. Notices. All notices required under this Agreement shall be in writing and delivered
personally, by e-mail, or by first class U.S. mail, postage prepaid, to each party at the
address listed below. Either party may change the notice address by notifying the
other party in writing. Notices shall be deemed received upon receipt of same or within
three (3) days of deposit in the U.S. Mail, whichever is earlier. Notices sent by e-mail
shall be deemed received on the date of the e-mail transmission.
To Newport Beach: Attn: Chief of Police
Police Department
City of Newport Beach
870 Santa Barbara Drive
7
Newport Beach, CA 92660
To Laguna Beach: Attn: Chief of Police
Police Department
City of Laguna Beach
505 Forest Avenue
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
16. Assignments. In no event shall either Party assign or transfer any right or obligation
under this Agreement without the prior written consent of the other Party.
17. Authority. Each signatory hereto on behalf of one Party warrants to the other Party
that he or she has authority to sign this Agreement on behalf of the Party for whom he
or she purports to represent.
18. Standard Provisions.
18.1. A waiver by either Party of any breach, of any term, covenant or condition
contained herein shall not be deemed to be a waiver of any subsequent breach of
the same or any other term, covenant or condition contained herein, whether of
the same or a different character.
18.2. This Agreement represents the full and complete understanding of every
kind or nature whatsoever between the Parties, and all preliminary negotiations
and agreements of whatsoever kind or nature are merged herein.
18.3. This Agreement may be modified or amended only by a written document
executed by both Parties and approved as to form by their respective City
Attorneys.
18.4. If any term or portion of this Agreement is held to be invalid, illegal, or
otherwise unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining
provisions of this Agreement shall continue in full force and effect.
18.5. In the event of any dispute or legal action arising under this Agreement, the
prevailing party shall not be entitled to attorneys' fees.
18.6. This Agreement may be executed in two (2) or more counterparts, each of
which shall be deemed an original and all of which together shall constitute one (1)
and the same instrument.
18.7. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California.
[SIGNATURES ON FOLLOWING PAGE]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have caused this Agreement to be executed
on the dates written below.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
CITY ATTONEY'S OFFICE
Date:
By: " a A�
Von C. Harp
Newport Beach City Attorney
ATTEST:
Date: I
By: 04w,
Leilani I. Brown
Newport Beach City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
CITY ATTQR EY'S OFFICE
Date: l blll1 . 422
Philip D. Kohn
Laguna Beach City Attorney
CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH
a Californi7 m nicipal corporation
Date 117 ?�
By:
a e K. eun
Newport ch City Manag
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� 01FoaN
CITY OF LAGUNA BEACH
a Californi municipal corporation
Date: d
71d (aLda
Shohreh Dupuis
Laguna Beach City Man
ATTEST:
Date: 7_zZ1i
By
C)� J-4:�l
arse Mc ay
Laguna Beach City Clerk