Safety Officer Section

The Law Enforcement Safety Officer is a career field that combines the fields of occupational safety, and the roles of an incident command safety officer.

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the Safety Officer Section ramped up operations concentrating on exposure mitigation and virus education. Safety officers responded to thousands of calls for service with patrol officers to provide advice on how to keep themselves safe with proper use of personal protective equipment. Safety officers also helped with decontaminating officers, police vehicles and police stations as needed. To help protect officers in the field, the Safety Officer Section created the Infectious Disease Prevention Team (IDRT). IDRT consisted of over 100 officers who received advanced training in disease prevention, decontamination, and how to safely wear personal protective equipment while working with an infectious community member. When the IDRT officers responded to an incident, an on-duty safety officer also responded to help reduce the chance of an injury.

To prevent an arresting officer from being contaminated by an infectious prisoner, the Safety Officer Section created, trained, and managed a group of officers who drove special arrestee transport vans. These vans were created to keep the arrestee and officer safe during the drive to the Adult Detention Center. At the conclusion of each transport, these vans were decontaminated and immediately put back into service. During the height of the pandemic, eight of these vehicles were operational at all times of the day.

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Safety Officers in 2020