AGENCY’S CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN OFFICER SAFETY AWARENESS TRAINING (OSAT) PROGRAM RESEARCH
NAME OF STUDY: UNDER ATTACK: ASSAULTS ON OUR NATION’S LAW ENFORCEMENT
Your law enforcement agency is being asked to participate in a research study conducted by the OSAT Program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division. The OSAT Program is part of the Law Enforcement Engagement and Data Sharing Section’s Law Enforcement Engagement Unit. The mission of the OSAT Program is to assist law enforcement managers, trainers, and personnel in the identification of training issues for the purpose of preventing the deaths and/or serious injuries of law enforcement personnel.
PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY
The purpose of this study is to examine the circumstances of incidents of serious assaults of law enforcement officers in the United States. This study seeks to gain a more thorough understanding of why these incidents take place and the context surrounding them. The study will include a comprehensive review of the situational context of incidents of serious assaults of police officers and interviews with the officers and offenders involved in the serious assault incidents. Researchers will interview participating officers and offenders and will review available information from law enforcement records, body-worn camera and dashboard camera recordings, offenders’ criminal history records, and officers’ medical/psychological records. This information will assist law enforcement in efforts to prepare for and reduce the occurrence of these events.
PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL
Your agency is being asked to participate in the study because your agency was involved in an event in which a law enforcement officer was seriously assaulted. Your agency’s participation in this project is voluntary. There are no consequences for not participating. If your agency does volunteer to participate, participation may stop at any time without consequences. Your agency does not waive any legal claims, rights, or remedies by participating in this study.
PROCEDURES
If your agency volunteers to participate in this study, it will be asked to provide information about the law enforcement assault incident such as reports. If permitted by your agency’s policy, your agency will also be asked to provide any body-worn camera or dashboard camera footage of the law enforcement assault incident. Your agency does not have to provide body-worn camera or dashboard camera footage. Your agency can still participate in the study without providing camera footage.
EXPLANATION OF POTENTIAL BENEFITS
Your agency’s participation may aid in the research project, which may benefit others in the law enforcement community. The information gathered will help researchers understand people and situations similar to what your agency experienced.
EXPLANATION OF POTENTIAL RISKS
As with any research, a minimal risk to confidentiality exists. As discussed below, the research team will take precautions to ensure confidentiality is maintained; however, if your agency provides records and camera footage for use in the study, the information may be viewed by individuals outside of your agency. The interpretation of the information provided by your agency as positive or negative cannot be guaranteed. On rare occasions, research records have been subpoenaed by a court or parties involved in pending litigation.
The OSAT team will make every attempt to ensure all information obtained for this study will be used only for research, educational, training, and operational purposes and only disclosed with your permission or as required by law. The OSAT research team will have access to information provided by your agency, and the materials will remain locked when not being analyzed. Any information gathered for the study will be property of the FBI. We may provide selected de-identified data to the United States Department of Justice and to other entities, both inside and outside the federal government, for analysis. Your signature on this form indicates your approval for the FBI to use your agency’s information for research, training, educational, and operational purposes.
If your agency has questions or concerns about this research project or would like to withdraw from the study, you may contact the researcher(s) whose name(s) and telephone number(s) appear below. If someone in your agency experiences any side effects or injury related to this research study, you should contact the researcher(s) below. For information regarding your agency’s involvement in this research study, or to discuss problems, concerns, or suggestions related to this research, contact the researcher(s) below or the FBI’s Institutional Review Board at [email protected].
Researchers: Name Phone Number
___________________________________, ___________________________
___________________________________, ___________________________
___________________________________, ___________________________
___________________________________, ___________________________
INFORMED CONSENT
By signing below, you acknowledge that you have read the foregoing information about the research study UNDER ATTACK: ASSAULTS ON OUR NATION’S LAW ENFORCEMENT and the information has been explained to you. You acknowledge that you were given the opportunity to ask questions and that you have received satisfactory answers concerning areas you did not understand. You further acknowledge that you have the authority to provide consent for the FBI’s review and use of your agency’s records, body-worn camera footage, and dashboard camera footage.
Upon signing this form, you will receive a signed copy of this form.
I willingly consent to participate to my agency’s participation in this research study.
Signature of Agency Representative: ______________________________________________
Printed Name: ________________________________________________________________
Law Enforcement Agency: ______________________________________________________
Title: ________________________________________________________________________
Date: ________________________________________________________________________
Use of Body-Worn Camera and Dashboard Camera Footage
As part of this study, the FBI requests that your agency provide any body-worn camera and/or dashboard camera footage of the law enforcement officer assault incident. This body-worn camera and dashboard camera footage may provide valuable insight into the circumstances of the assault incident and steps that could be taken in the future to mitigate or prevent future law enforcement assaults. In addition to reviewing the footage for research purposes, the FBI may include clips of the footage in officer safety trainings. Use of the footage for training purposes will result in individuals outside of your agency and the FBI reviewing the footage. The FBI will only use footage with the consent of the officer(s) and offender(s) depicted in the footage, and the FBI will obscure the identities of individuals depicted in the footage who are not part of the study and have not provided consent for the use of footage depicting them (e.g., audio and video of non-consenting individuals will be cut from clips used for trainings, individuals will be blurred to conceal their identities, and/or audio will be removed or distorted).
On behalf of my agency, I consent to the FBI’s review and use of our agency’s body-worn camera and dashboard camera footage for research, educational, training, and operational purposes. By consenting to the FBI’s use of our agency’s footage, I certify that such use does not violate state or local law or any agency policies. The FBI’s use of our agency’s body-worn camera and dashboard camera footage is subject to the following restrictions:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
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Signature of Authorized Agency Representative
On behalf of my agency, I consent to the FBI’s review of our agency’s body-worn camera and dashboard camera footage as part of the research study; however, the FBI may not use the footage for educational or training purposes and the footage may not be shared or viewed by anyone outside of the OSAT research team. By consenting to the FBI’s review of our agency’s footage, I certify that such use for research purposes does not violate state or local law or any agency policies.
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Signature of Authorized Agency Representative
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