DC POST flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Felony threshold in DC

An offense punishable by more than one year of imprisonment is a felony; one year or less is a misdemeanor. This classification drives arrest authority, charging, and procedural rules under DC Code Title 22.

Citizen's arrest authority

A private person may arrest for a felony committed in their presence, or a misdemeanor involving a breach of the peace in their presence, and must deliver the arrestee to an officer without unnecessary delay.

Presentment timing

An arrested person must be brought before a judicial officer without unnecessary delay. DC practice targets presentment within 48 hours, and the clock runs from the time of arrest.

Preventive detention standard

Under the DC Bail Reform Act, the court may order pretrial detention only on clear and convincing evidence of risk of flight or danger to the community, after a hearing.

Reasonable expectation of privacy

A Fourth Amendment search occurs when government action intrudes on a subjective expectation of privacy that society recognizes as reasonable. Abandoned property and open fields fall outside protection.

Terry stop standard

A brief detention is lawful when an officer has reasonable, articulable suspicion that a person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime, based on specific facts.

Frisk justification

An officer may pat down outer clothing for weapons only when reasonable suspicion exists that the person is armed and dangerous. The frisk is limited to a protective search for weapons.

Miranda custody test

Custody exists when a reasonable person in the suspect's position would not feel free to leave. Interrogation includes words or actions reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response.

Sixth Amendment attachment

The right to counsel attaches when adversary judicial proceedings begin, such as formal charges, indictment, or arraignment, and applies at every critical stage thereafter.

SARA model

A problem-solving framework: Scanning identifies the problem, Analysis examines causes, Response implements tailored interventions, and Assessment evaluates outcomes against measurable data.

Directed patrol

Patrol assigned to specific times and locations based on crime analysis, with defined dosage of visible presence, rather than random undirected patrol across a beat.

Beat integrity

Assigning officers to consistent geographic beats so they learn residents, businesses, and crime patterns, improving familiarity, trust, and response time.

Three pillars of community policing

Community partnerships, organizational transformation, and problem solving. These elements form the widely used framework for community policing implementation and evaluation.

Graham objective reasonableness

Force is judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on scene, considering the totality of circumstances, including the severity of the crime, immediate threat, and active resistance.

Deadly force definition

Force likely to cause death or serious bodily injury. It is justified only when the officer has probable cause to believe the subject poses an imminent threat of death or serious injury.

Duty to intervene

An officer who witnesses another officer using excessive force must intervene when in a position to do so and must report the conduct to a supervisor.

Positional asphyxia risk

After prone restraint, officers must move the subject to a recovery position as soon as safe and monitor breathing continuously. Hogtying is prohibited because it restricts breathing.

Chain of custody

A documented record of every transfer of physical evidence, including date, time, person, and purpose, used to authenticate evidence and rebut claims of tampering or contamination.

Biological evidence packaging

Biological evidence must be air-dried before packaging, packaged separately to prevent cross-contamination, and stored in breathable containers to avoid degradation and mold.

Digital evidence hashing

Forensic images are created with write-blocking and hashed using MD5 or SHA-256. The hash verifies integrity by showing the image matches the source bit-for-bit.

Double-blind lineup

An identification procedure in which neither the witness nor the administering officer knows which lineup member is the suspect, reducing inadvertent suggestion and misidentification.

Brady obligation

The prosecution must disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense. Giglio extends this to impeachment material regarding government witnesses, including officer credibility findings.

OWI per se limit

In DC, operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher supports a per se OWI charge for drivers 21 and older, without further proof of impairment.

Underage zero tolerance

Drivers under 21 in DC are subject to a zero-tolerance standard: a BAC of 0.02 or higher supports an underage OWI charge and license sanctions.

Commercial driver BAC limit

Commercial driver's license holders are subject to a 0.04 BAC threshold for OWI, and an OWI conviction carries CDL disqualification under federal and DC rules.

Standardized field sobriety tests

The validated battery includes horizontal gaze nystagmus, walk-and-turn, and one-leg stand. Officers document each clue observed and the conditions of administration.

Traffic stop duration

A traffic stop must be reasonable in duration and tailored to its purpose. Once the purpose is resolved, further detention requires independent reasonable suspicion of other criminal activity.

Report narrative structure

Narratives are written in first person, past tense, chronological order, answering who, what, when, where, why, and how, with all offense elements documented.

Objective report language

Reports describe observed conduct rather than conclusory labels. Instead of calling a subject aggressive, the report states what the subject did, said, and how they moved.

Verbatim quotation

Statements should be quoted exactly within quotation marks, attributed to the speaker, with context noted. Paraphrase is acceptable only when identified as such.

Mandatory misconduct reporting

Officers must report known misconduct to a supervisor or internal affairs. Retaliation against a reporting officer is prohibited and is itself a disciplinary offense.

Brady/Giglio list

A sustained finding of dishonesty can place an officer on a disclosure list that prosecutors must share with the defense, affecting the officer's credibility and future testimony.