Changes to TFU Handbook - JULY 2026

7 - Disciplinary Action

Internal Affairs Complaints

Internal Affairs is a component of the Office of Professional Standards and is tasked with receiving and investigating citizen complaints and internal investigations that are assigned by the Head of Professional Standards. The Internal Affairs' responsibility is to receive a complaint and conduct an impartial investigation. The complainant's responsibility is to report the facts as clearly as possible, as soon as possible, after an incident.

Once a complaint has been investigated, the Complaint Committee will come to a decision about the complaint.

If the allegations or actions presented within an Internal Affairs complaint are relevant to TFU duties, and the defendant is a member of TFU, a TFU Command member tasked with quality assurance will be assigned to the complaint and initiate an internal investigation. If the complaint's outcome is sustained, the TFO in question is subject to internal punishment.

Note: An Internal TFU Investigation can only proceed once a complaint has been opened on the officer in question. This can be bypassed if the defendant in question has already received a PLPD disciplinary action outside of the IA system.

Important: TFU Command reserves the right to suspend the certification of any RTFO who is under internal TFU investigation until it has concluded.

Internal Point System

All TFOs are subject to an internal point system maintained and managed by TFU Command. TFOs who receive internal disciplinary action receive points on record, as outlined in the section below. Different certifications have different point budgets.

Tactical Firearms Incident Commanders (TFIC): Budget of 2 points.
Standard Tactical Firearms Officers (STFO): Budget of 4 points.
Recruit Tactical Firearms Officers (RTFO); Budget of 1 point.

Any officers who are removed from TFIC due to reaching 2 out of 2 points on their internal record will be demoted to STFO. All points from their TFIC record will be transferred to their STFO record.

STFOs who reach 4 out of 4 points will be demoted to RTFO and receive a 1-month application blacklist. Points will not carry over to their RTFO record; however, if an officer exceeds four (4) points in total due to accumulated disciplinary actions (e.g. 5/4 points), TFU Command may determine that demotion to RTFO is insufficient and reserves the right to remove the officer from the Tactical Firearms Unit entirely.

Any Recruit Tactical Firearms Officers who reach 1 out of 1 point on their internal record will be removed outright from the Tactical Firearms Unit.

All certification demotions (e.g, TFIC -> STFO) may be considered during future TFU-related Command Reviews for up to 3 months following the removal.
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Internal Punishments and Grading

All internal punishments within TFU are to be graded using the following grading system:

All examples in the opposite chart are merely examples and aren't set in stone. Disciplinary grading will be determined proportionally based on the severity, context, and impact of the misconduct. Circumstances can vary massively between situations, and TFU Command will carefully examine each situation to ensure the grading decided upon is proportional.

Informal Disciplinary Action:

No Grade punishments are the only form of informal discipline offered within TFU. Even in cases of sustained IA complaints, if the officer’s actions are not deemed to be a significant violation of TFU policy, it may be more appropriate to refrain from issuing a point on their record and instead provide guidance to help prevent the situation from occurring again.

Formal Disciplinary Action:
Differently graded punishments stay on an officer's internal record for varying amounts of time. These times can be seen below:

Grade 1; 1 point merited remain active on the officer's internal record for 1 month.
Grade 2; 2 points merited remain active on the officer's internal record for 3 months.
Grade 3.1; 3 points merited remain active on the officer's internal record for 3 months.
Grade 3.2; 4 points merited remain active on the officer's internal record for 3 months.

Activity Requirements

At the beginning of every month, typically within the first week, the activity of Tactical Firearms Officers is checked to ensure they are meeting the requirements. If any Tactical Firearms Officers are unable to meet this, they should make a helpdesk ticket. Activity requirements are outlined in the Internal Disciplinary Policy

TFOs who fail to meet the activity requirements outlined in the Internal Disciplinary Policy will receive increasing amounts of points based on how many months in a row they fail to meet said requirements.

1 month; 1 point on internal record (remains active for 3 months)
2 months in a row; 2 additional points on internal record (remains active for 3 months)
3 months in a row; Removal from the Tactical Firearms Unit

Note: Recruit Tactical Firearms Officers are exempt from activity requirements

Disputing Internal Punishment

Internal punishments may be disputed by submitting a helpdesk ticket towards Tactical Firearms with all relevant information and any necessary elucidations. The Head of TFU and uninvolved command members will review the original investigation and the information provided within the helpdesk ticket before revoting on the punishment.

Important: If a sustained complaint is later overturned through an accepted PSD dispute, any related internal TFU punishment could also be overturned.

Internal Disciplinary Policy

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