Police Investigative Assistant

SERVE

At the City of Plano, our values make us who we are and guide us as we SERVE our city. As members of Team Plano, our organizational Values (what is most important to us) make up the acronym, SERVE (Stewardship Engaged Respectful Visionary Excellence).

Job Details

WORK SCHEDULE: Monday- Friday / 8:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.

The selected candidate will work closely with detectives from various units, including Crimes Against Persons, Family Violence, Intelligence, General, Juvenile, Forgery, Burglary, and Vehicle Crimes. The primary responsibility will be to assist the Forgery Unit by drafting Court Orders for detectives' review and signature, obtaining a District Judge's signature, and ensuring the signed copy is properly filed in the case. Additionally, the candidate will send the Court Order to the appropriate agency, track agency responses, review returned records, and assist in determining next steps.

A successful candidate will be highly organized, capable of working independently, and able to make sound decisions. Strong communication skills and professionalism when interacting with coworkers, the public, and external agencies are essential.

This role also includes electronically filing cases with the appropriate county agency using various programs to compile case assets. We seek a motivated, detail-oriented team player who is committed to making a difference in the lives of fraud and forgery victims and supporting the outstanding police services of the Plano Police Department.

Summary of Duties: Under basic supervision, the Investigative Assistant performs a variety of technical law enforcement support work relative to cases being investigated by the Criminal Investigators within the Criminal Investigation Services Division (CISD).

Distinguishing Characteristics: This is the journey-level classification in the Investigative Assistant series. The incumbent plans and carries out detailed methods to attain desired objectives working within established policy. Methods require the use of initiative and resourcefulness in developing processes and procedures. Works under direct supervision, conferring with supervisor on unusual matters.

Examples of ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

Management reserves the right to add, modify, change, or rescind the work assignments of different positions and to make reasonable accommodations so that qualified employees can perform the essential functions of the job.

• Assists with Case Reports, Search Warrants, Arrest Affidavits, Court Orders, Tracker Orders and Supplements for Criminal Investigation Detectives: Vehicle Crimes, Burglary, Forgery/Fraud, General, Juvenile, Family Violence, Crimes Against Persons and the Intelligence units; sends PCA/Warrant to the county; update cases with correct violation, suspect and witness information; locate records management system (RMS) attachments, add evidence attachments into RMS for safekeeping, researches and locates 911 Calls for us in other systems; locates Detective/officer DVR-Bodycams, creates and downloads case information into case management system; locates CSI photos and CSIT video/photos to compile in detective's assigned folder; locates all surveillance videos, device dumps from detectives; locates Interview video footage into case management software; utilizes jail system to locate jail records; prepares entire case and submits electronically into various external document management systems and in some cases mailing as required by the receiving agency; sends supplemental evidence to appropriate counties as it is received; and assist counties with requests for additional documentation.

• Runs Criminal History and Driver's License information; locates vehicle information, emergency contacts, and confirm warrants

• Assist with investigative process on assigned cases utilizing law enforcement databases to complete additional research.

• Contacts victims to obtain necessary information as requested by Detectives; prepares letters to victims for statements to aid in prosecution.

• Organizes, maintains evidence, and documents related to active cases; includes maintaining Excel spreadsheets, mailing lists, and victim information.

• Contacts other law enforcement agencies to obtain reports and other documents regarding potential suspects; communicates with and forwards incident reports to appropriate law enforcement entities regarding cases as directed; follows up on all correspondence received on assigned cases; maintains and updates other law enforcement agencies contact information in shared database.

• Answers, screens and routes calls to the appropriate department and staff; manage the CISD On-Call phone system.

• Maintains supply inventory by checking stock to determine inventory level, anticipating needed supplies, placing and expediting orders for supplies. Ensure operation of equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements, calling for repairs, maintaining equipment inventories and evaluating new equipment and techniques

• Carries out administrative duties such as filing, typing, copying, binding, scanning etc.; receives, sorts, and distributes mail for CISD Units; creates various spreadsheets; edits and converts PDF files into Word documents and PDF writable format as needed. Assist in preparing end-of-year reporting numbers

• May be assigned to assist the other CISD units as necessary; must be familiar with cases by cross training within units

• Assist detectives in verifying and locating case information during investigation

• Notarize and submit Search Warrant Returns to Judge folder

• Assist with Federal Task Force case compilation and redacting documents as necessary

• Prepares supplement reports of newly reported cases and monitors dashboard daily for any changes to cases that have been filed, then keep Sergeants/Detectives informed of whenever there is a lead related on a case

• When Assigned to Family Violence Unit -

• Assists Detectives with phone calls and reports coordinating with Child Protective Services (CPS) and other staff located within the Children's Advocacy Unit; assists CPS, Victims Advocate and Family Advocate workers with the collection & dissemination of information regarding individuals & locations within their cases

• Utilizes software application to confirm the existence of warrants for suspects related to assigned cases

• Utilizes lead generation software to assist investigators with research, intelligence gathering, analysis and pawn tracking as needed to as part of the investigative process

• Reviews inactive cases that have been updated with new information/ evidence to determine if the case needs to be reactivated & assigned to a detective

• Collaborates with the Property Unit to accurately seal and submit evidence as well as retrieve evidence for further examination in accordance with chain of custody procedures

• Pulls and delivers digital media to collaborating agencies in the DFW metroplex in the event of shared cases/ suspects

• Collaborates with detectives & neighborhood services on the tracking of short-term housing within Plano in order to determine the possible locations of non-compliant sex offenders

• Collaborates with the Crime Scene unit to compress & review device data to further assist detectives

• Cross trains with the Special Victims Unit Coordinator to know the functions of that job. Cross training on sex offender registration w/ the SVU Coordinator for the purpose of updating the registry as needed

• When Assigned to Crimes Against Persons (CAPers) Unit -

• Monitors and listens to the CAPers and CISD Tip Lines, after screening forward messages to the appropriate Unit or make direct contact with callers for further information if necessary

• Drafts court orders and sends to Judge for review; submit court orders to appropriate entities and follow up on return; notify detectives of the court order response and attach to case in RMS

• Organizes and creates excel spreadsheet for each detective's case to ensure all information is compiled in correct place for submission to the county

• Update and maintain the CAPers unit on-call calendar schedule

• Maintains a copy of the court monthly arraignment/ blood warrant on-call calendar

• Updates cold case files by scanning documents and photos into system

• Train others in redacting and preparing cases to Federal Task Force

• Prepare year-end report from the case filed log and case report in RMS for accuracy

• When assigned to Property Crimes (Forgery, Burglary, Vehicle Crimes, General) Unit -

• Additionally, provides administrative duties for the Intelligence and Surveillance Units; including filing cases developed by both units

• Completes Expedite Letters to victims and updates RMS with actions; must revise and update CISD expedite letters accordingly when changes occur on City Council and/or the sworn leadership changes

• Maintains a shared contacts list outside agencies and police contacts in an Excel spreadsheet

• Assists in high profile cases including researching, investigating and correspondence; reviews and returns from search warrants and Court Orders at detective request; creates folders in shared drive keeping case information updated and coordinated to be shared within department and other participating agencies

• Contacts victims for case information and prepare draft Court Orders for detectives' review and signature; send Court Orders to judge for review; retrieve signed Court Order, upload into RMS case file then send to receiving agency; track Cort Order status, ensures response is attached into RMS, and determine appropriate method of case forwarding

• Assist detectives in preparing and saving documents on USB drives and hard drives for evidence and attaching emails and documents to RMS as instructed. Enter Property lists as assigned by detective

• Acts as liaison for Plano PD and Dallas County Crime Stoppers; is the Point of Contact for the Plano Police Department and prepares monthly report slide to Crime Analysis; prepare end of year summary of Crime Stoppers activity

• Processes background checks on Multiple Firearm Sales forms received from numerous sources.

• Processes Orders to Expunge and Orders to Seal requests from the Police Chief's office

• Assist with completing District Attorney (DA) Refusal Letters to include attaching letter into RMS case, inputting data into excel document, forwarding to lead Officer, Sergeant and assigned Detective(s)

• Juvenile Records Technician Unit -

• Files multiple different types of Juvenile cases; Directive to Apprehend, Juvenile Referral, juvenile arrest, runaway packet and Juvenile Notice to Appear (JNTA)

• Responsible for supporting the School Resource Officer with administrative and case filing needs

• Utilizes RMS to create specialized and protected juvenile case files; including but not limited to downloading defendants booking pictures, evidence, statements, lab reports and any documentation or report related to the case

• Acts as the liaison between Plano Police Department and the Department of Public Safety regarding Juvenile CJIS forms (corrections, fingerprints); order CJIS forms from DPS and distribute

• Maintain the Juvenile processing log, complete data entry upon complete log and send monthly numbers to supervisor

• Responsible for maintaining the Juvenile processing camera; charging and ready for usage

• Prepare school letters within 24 hours of student arrest; maintains a contact log on SharePoint for ISD contacts

• Ensures every juvenile charge has a case report; if a case report does not exist then reviews officer report and creates case report; obtains Sergeant's signature to send with case within 10-day mandatory deadline

• Prepares runaway packets to be sent to Juvenile probation and prepare/send all Juvenile correspondence

• Coordinates with Patrol regarding missing documentation including all Juvenile JNTA citations

Marginal Duties:

• Performs other duties as assigned
• If bi-lingual, may be required to assist with translations of documents, in person, or in a court setting

Typical Decisions:

The position requires the incumbent to prioritize work to meet the demands of the division and adjust such priorities depending on the type or number of cases; makes determinations about correct information to be included in specific case and other reports and/or files; must determine what information sources (human, databases, online, etc.) to utilize in assisting with case development; must be self-sufficient; must accurately determine what information is releasable, even to other law enforcement agencies, when providing assistance to internal employees, external agencies and to the public; provides lead work guidance and coordination to other employees within the work group

Minimum Qualifications:

Knowledge of:

• Knowledge of processes and procedures in supporting investigative functions including but not limited to searching a variety of sources to obtain materials to support detective's activities; and performing complex database queries using a variety of computer systems to extract data; and conducting complex and unique law enforcement searches and queries; and gathering and analyzing data; and preparing various reports related to investigations; and making recommendations based on findings; and identifying / reporting inaccuracies or anomalies in the information gathered
• Knowledge of general Police Records functions, policies, procedures; documentation preparation and organization; statutes and ordinances regulating the coding and distribution of information and other applicable laws or ordinances; supporting and conducting peer follow-on training for assigned Team members
• Ability to learn and implement various state and federal laws regulating the use, possession, release and maintenance of various police / victim / suspect and criminal data
• General office practices, procedures, equipment, and general software, including word processing, spreadsheet, and other general software applications; rules of grammar; practices of document preparation; including

Skill in:

• Communicating clearly both verbally and in writing; entering data accurately into appropriate databases and reports; completing incident reports
• Skill in preparing, editing, and developing responses to sensitive or confidential correspondence; ability to act with discretion and maintain confidentiality
• Skill in prioritizing, tracking, and managing multiple projects, assignments, and duties to comply with statutory and court-ordered deadlines with strong attention to detail
• Skill in entering, retrieving, copying, tracking, and storing police records, files, and reports
• Effective workplace communication, including written, verbal and active listening skills; interacting professionally with internal and external customers while providing professional, effective and tactful customer service; utilization of various specialty software / databases for data input and maintenance as well as track daily workflow for managing investigative cases and other internal and external systems; effective reading and comprehension of police centric reports and narratives for use in the preparation of case files / filings; operating a personal computer; scanning and organizing documents; working independently

Education: High school diploma or GED equivalent, Associate's degree or equivalent college hours preferred.

Experience: Six (6) months of experience in a Police records or police investigation environment.

Any work-related experience resulting in acceptable proficiency levels in the above Minimum Qualifications is an acceptable substitute for the above-specified education and experience requirements.

Required Licenses, Certifications and Training:

• Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) and Privacy Training must be successfully completed within the first five (5) business days from start of work date; and must be maintained during employment.
• After completing probationary period, must obtain and maintain a State of Texas Notary Public license.
• Obtain and maintain NCIC/TCIC certification Texas Crime Information Center (TCIC) / Texas Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (TLETS); Peace Office Certification must be successfully completed within the first six (6) months of employment date and must be maintained during employment.
• Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) Nation Incident Management Systems (NIMS-700) and Incident Command System Training (ICS-100) certificates must be successfully completed within the first six (6) months of employment date.

Conditions of Employment: Must pass a drug test, polygraph, criminal history background check, and social security number verification check; additionally, must pass ongoing periodic CJIS background checks (for positions requiring access into Police buildings and records).

Physical Demands and Working Conditions: This is primarily an office classification although standing in work areas and walking between work areas is required. Finger dexterity is needed to access, enter, and retrieve data using a computer keyboard or calculator and to operate standard office equipment; vision to read printed materials and a computer screen; hearing and speech to communicate in person and over the telephone. Positions in this classification occasionally bend, stoop, kneel, reach, push, and pull drawers open and closed to retrieve and file information. Employees may be required to lift, carry, push, and pull materials and objects weighing up to 25 pounds.

Employees work in an office environment with moderate noise levels, controlled temperature conditions, and no direct exposure to hazardous physical substances. Employees may interact with upset staff and/or public and private representatives in interpreting and enforcing departmental policies and procedures.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed and are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills which may be required. The position also requires meeting the essential requirements of the Physical Demands and Working Conditions, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Equal Opportunity Employer- EOE/M/F/V/D

Open positions are subject to close without notice.