Police Policy Manual
Every quarter, we publish the most up-to-date version of our Policy Manual on this page for public review. The Palo Alto Police Department's Policy Manual is more than 750 pages in length. We welcome you to review our policies regarding use of force, control devices and techniques, conducted energy weapons (TASERs), standards of conduct, racial- or bias-based profiling, field-based video (e.g. body-worn camera), automated license plate readers, interaction with federal immigration officials, and many, many more.
The most recent version of the Policy Manual is from August 9, 2024. Note that the date published in the footer of each page of the Policy Manual lists the last date that any single edit to any policy within the manual actually occurred. Each quarter, we publish a current version of the Policy Manual, even if no updates have been made in the past quarter.
PAPD Policy Manual(PDF, 4MB)
A Note on Redactions in the Policy Manual...
Please note that we have redacted (that is, removed) select portions of certain policies from this publicly-available version of the Palo Alto Police Department Policy Manual. The portions of the policies not disclosed relate to sensitive security issues, police tactics, and/or officer safety, and are withheld from disclosure in accordance with California Government Code §§6254(f), 6254(aa), 6254 (ab), and/or 6254.19. The nine policies that contain select portions we have withheld pursuant to these state laws are as follows:
Policy 314: Vehicle Pursuits
Policy 316: Officer Response to Calls
Policy 322: Search and Seizure
Policy 408: Crisis Response Unit
Policy 414: Hostage and Barricade Incidents
Policy 416: Response to Bomb Calls
Policy 424: Rapid Response and Deployment
Policy 432: Patrol Rifles and Shotguns
Policy 458: Foot Pursuits
The redacted portions of the above policies are denoted by a solid dark rectangle obscuring the withheld text.
Also, note that not every sequential number has an associated policy; some numbers are unassigned and are simply placeholders in the event future policies are needed.