ASP Policies & Procedures

Nighttime two-member patrol

General patrol conduct

• Members should maintain professional, visible, and service-oriented patrol activity.
• Members are expected to communicate significant hazards, high-risk contacts, and requests for assistance without unnecessary delay.
• Members should avoid creating preventable risk to the public, other members, or themselves solely to increase enforcement activity.
• Supervisors may direct two-member deployment, staging, or additional cover when circumstances warrant.

Vehicle pursuits are considered a high-risk enforcement activity. Members are expected to continually weigh the need for immediate apprehension against traffic, roadway, weather, pedestrian, and public-safety conditions.

• A pursuit should have a lawful and articulable enforcement basis.
• Members should continually reassess whether continuation remains reasonable as conditions change.
• Supervisors may restrict, redirect, or terminate a pursuit.
• A pursuit must be terminated when the danger created by continuation clearly outweighs the need for immediate apprehension.
• Members involved in a pursuit are responsible for completing the applicable ASP pursuit documentation and reporting collisions, force, or other significant events arising from it.

ASP members may use only force that is objectively reasonable for the circumstances confronting the member within the roleplay environment. Force is not used as punishment, retaliation, or to compel compliance when less intrusive lawful options are reasonably sufficient.

• When practical, members should use communication, time, distance, cover, and de-escalation before force becomes necessary.
• Force should stop when the justification for the force ends.
• Members must request or provide appropriate aid following force when injury is reported or reasonably suspected.
• Reportable force requires timely documentation and supervisory review.
• Members must accurately describe the subject's actions, the member's response, and the circumstances supporting each level of force used.

Traffic enforcement should promote roadway safety and lawful conduct rather than quotas, arbitrary activity targets, or personal preference. Members are expected to conduct stops professionally, select reasonably safe stop locations when possible, and explain enforcement action when circumstances allow.

• Enforcement decisions must not be based on favoritism or prohibited bias.
• Warnings, citations, and arrests should reflect the facts of the contact and applicable roleplay law or policy.
• Members should request cover when the circumstances of a stop create elevated risk.
• Traffic stops connected to another report or case should be documented under the appropriate ASP record workflow.

Members taking a person into custody are responsible for lawful grounds, reasonable care, accurate documentation, and appropriate transfer or release. Custody should not be prolonged beyond the operational purpose that justifies it.

• Searches and restraints should be reasonable for the circumstances.
• Members must account for property taken from a person in custody when applicable.
• Known or apparent medical concerns should be addressed promptly.
• Custody transfers should identify the receiving member, unit, or facility and document notable conditions or incidents during transport.

Emergency warning equipment does not eliminate a member's responsibility to operate with due regard for surrounding traffic and foreseeable hazards. Members should reduce speed and confirm that travel can be made safely before entering intersections or other conflict points.

• Emergency response speed should remain reasonable for roadway, visibility, traffic, and weather conditions.
• Members should not use emergency equipment solely for convenience or to bypass ordinary traffic conditions.
• Agency vehicle crashes or damage must be reported through the designated ASP reporting process.

ASP members are expected to act professionally, truthfully, and consistently with agency policy. Complaints and commendations may be submitted by members of the roleplay community and are reviewed through the appropriate supervisory or Professional Standards process.

• Members must not knowingly falsify reports, records, or official roleplay statements.
• Retaliation for making a good-faith complaint or participating in an ASP review is prohibited.
• Supervisors are responsible for addressing apparent policy concerns and documenting required corrective action.
• Professional Standards information is restricted according to role and need for access.

General Orders establish the formal operating rules of the Ashford State Patrol. Orders may be supplemented by approved procedures, training directives, command memoranda, and assignment-specific instructions that do not conflict with controlling policy.

• Members are responsible for knowing policies applicable to their duties and assignments.
• Command may revise policy when operational experience, training needs, or agency structure changes.
• Superseded policy remains part of the administrative record but is not controlling after its replacement takes effect.
• Public website summaries are intended to make major agency expectations understandable to the community without publishing restricted operational details.