200-14 Telephone Regulations

Question 1

All communications on City-owned telephones shall be conducted in an appropriate and professional manner. Employees shall be polite, civil, and orderly, treating all persons with dignity and respect.

The City of Houston’s telephone service and cellular telephones are to be used to assist employees in performing…

Answer 1

their assigned duties

Question 2

Employees shall be aware that all cellular telephone calls, text messages, emails, and other communications may be subject to…

Employees should consider these communications a public record and shall have no…

Answer 2

1) discovery in criminal or civil matters,

may be subject to release to a member of the public in response to a public information request under the Texas Public Information Act, or may be used in internal investigations.

2) expectation of privacy.

(The department reserves the right to access any information on City-owned cellular telephones at any time.)

Question 3

Employees issued a City-owned cellular telephone shall ensure the device is operational (i.e., capable of sending and receiving voice, text, and data) and in their possession at all times while on duty or working police related extra employment.

a.
On-duty non-exempt employees shall respond to any departmental telephone calls, text messages, and voicemails which…

Answer 3

require a response, as soon as practicable.

Question 4

Employees issued a City-owned cellular telephone shall ensure the device is operational (i.e., capable of sending and receiving voice, text, and data) and in their possession at all times while on duty or working police related extra employment.

b.
Off-duty non-exempt employees shall respond to departmental telephone calls, text messages, and voicemails once____. Employees are not expected to have the cellular telephone turned on while off-duty, unless….

Answer 4

1) they return to work

2) a job-related telephone call is expected (e.g., a telephone call from the district attorney’s [DA’s] office after an arrest or when the employee is on-call).

Question 5

Employees issued a City-owned cellular telephone shall ensure the device is operational (i.e., capable of sending and receiving voice, text, and data) and in their possession at all times while on duty or working police related extra employment.

c.
Exempt employees shall respond to any departmental telephone calls, text messages, and voicemails which require a response,…

Answer 5

as soon as practicable.

Question 6

Employees issued a City-owned cellular telephone shall ensure the device is operational (i.e., capable of sending and receiving voice, text, and data) and in their possession at all times while on duty or working police related extra employment.

d.
All employees shall respond to departmental telephone calls, text messages, and voicemails regarding emergency call-ups or deployment upon…

Answer 6

notification or as soon as practicable.

Question 7

When using City-owned cellular telephones, employees shall be governed by the following:

a.
Usage should be for conducting City business. Personal use is permitted, but…

Answer 7

should be minimized and all usage must comply with applicable departmental policies.

Question 8

When using City-owned cellular telephones, employees shall be governed by the following:

b.
Employees may give their City-owned assigned cellular telephone number to citizens, department employees, and…

Answer 8

other law enforcement partners (e.g., Harris County Sheriff’s Office [HCSO], DA’s office).

Question 9

When using City-owned cellular telephones, employees shall be governed by the following:

c.
Employees shall adhere to State law and City ordinances governing use of cellular telephones while driving. When available, employees are encouraged to…

Answer 9

use hands-free technology to make or receive calls and text messages while operating a vehicle.

Question 10

When using City-owned cellular telephones, employees shall be governed by the following:

d.
Employees may utilize the cellular telephone to assist in an investigation, however, employees shall not…

Answer 10

delete any items of evidentiary value (e.g., photographs, video, text messages) from the cellular telephone until the evidence has been properly processed according to General Order 700-01, Property and Evidence Control Regulations and the transmission of such evidence has been verified.

Question 11

When using City-owned cellular telephones, employees shall be governed by the following:

e.
Employees shall ensure cellular telephones receive…

Answer 11

factory updates as needed

Question 12

Employees shall adhere to the following restrictions:

a.
Cellular telephones shall not be “jail-broken,” “rooted,” or modified in any way without…

Answer 12

prior written approval from the Deputy Director of the Office of Technology Services.

Question 13

Employees shall adhere to the following restrictions:

b.
Employees shall not bypass or disable any of the security features without…

Answer 13

the prior written approval from the Deputy Director of the Office of Technology Services.

Question 14

Employees shall adhere to the following restrictions:

c.
Criminal Justice Information (CJI) and Police Department operational data shall not be stored in “cloud” based storage resources accessed by cellular telephones (e.g., DropBox, Apple iCloud, Amazon Cloud Drive, Google Drive) without…

Answer 14

prior written approval from the Deputy Director of the Office of Technology Services.

Question 15

Employees shall adhere to the following restrictions:

d.
Employees shall not install or attempt to install software applications (“apps”) on their cellular telephone from any source, unless it is approved…

Answer 15

through the chain of command up to the executive assistant chief. The Office of Technology Services will keep a list of apps that have been approved.

Question 16

Employees shall adhere to the following restrictions:

e.
Cellular telephones shall not be used to take or send inappropriate photographic or video images, emails, or text messages unless…

Answer 16

they can be clearly linked to official police business.

Question 17

Employees shall adhere to the following restrictions:

f.
Cellular telephones and accessories shall not be reassigned or loaned to another person. Any new issues or reassignments of cellular telephones shall be completed through…

Answer 17

department’s Office of Technology Services.

Question 18

Employees shall adhere to the following restrictions:

g.
All service and repair of City-issued cellular telephones shall be performed by ____. Employees shall not make any attempt to repair a cellular telephone or use a third party service to perform repairs.

Answer 18

the department’s Office of Technology Services

Question 19

Any request to acquire a City-owned cellular telephone shall include, but is not limited to,…

The request shall be sent via email through the employee’s chain of command:

If approved, the executive assistant chief’s office shall…

(Authorized purchases or leases of such devices shall be handled the same as any other acquisition.)

Answer 19

1) the type of device requested and a justification for the requested device.

2) divisional technology coordinator, division commander, assistant chief, and executive assistant chief.

3) forward the email request to the Office of Technology Services utilizing TSC.Technologyservicesreguest@houstonpolice.org.

Question 20

Employees shall make all reasonable attempts to prevent loss, theft, and breakage of the cellular telephone and accessories. If the cellular telephone and/or accessories are broken, stolen, or lost due to negligence the employee may be…

Incidents involving the loss, damage, destruction, misuse, or compromise of any cellular telephone shall be immediately reported to ____.

(The incident shall be investigated as indicated in General Order 400-18, Responsibility for City Property).

Answer 20

1) held responsible for replacement or repair cost.

2) the employee’s immediate supervisor and the Office of Technology Services

Question 21

Employees shall use City of Houston long-distance service only to ____. The misuse of the City of Houston’s long-distance telephone service shall be reported and investigated in accordance with General Order 400-18, Responsibility for City Property.

Answer 21

conduct official City business

Question 22

Employees shall not use the department cellular telephone when traveling outside of the United States, unless ____.

When use of the cellular telephone may be necessary outside of the United States, the employee shall contact the Office of Technology Services at least ____ days prior to travel to acquire an international rate plan.

Answer 22

1) the travel is for City business

2) 7

Question 23

Employees may seek reimbursement for long-distance charges, but only when the communication was necessary to conduct official City business and one of the following circumstances existed:

a.
The employee was____

b.
The officer was ____ and use of the City provided long distance service would have compromised the investigation.

Answer 23

1) outside the City network local access zone.

2) on an undercover police investigation

Question 24

With the exception of the Command Center, no employee shall accept collect calls. If a person attempts to place a collect call to any department telephone, the employee receiving the call shall do one of the following in the order listed:

a.
Ask the operator to have the caller use____

b.
Ask the operator to obtain ____

c.
Ask the operator to have the caller place the collect call to ____.

Answer 24

1) a department toll free number.

2) a telephone number from the caller so the call may be returned.

3) the Command Center

Question 25

In accordance with General Order 200-08, Conduct and Authority, all employees shall register their department cellular telephone number with the department through the Personal Data Adjuster. Supervisors shall ….

The ____ shall maintain a current list of the most commonly used department telephone numbers, fax numbers, and toll free numbers.

It is the responsibility of each division commander and each Executive Staff member to inform the Command Center of any telephone number updates.

Answer 25

1) update changes using the Personal Data Adjuster program

2) Command Center