Investigative equipment is equipment required by CI for carrying out its investigative and enforcement functions. Investigative equipment includes' but is not limited, to the following: Fleet vehicles, surveillance vehicles, radio communication equipment, firearms, safes, body armor, electronic surveillance equipment, audio and video equipment, cameras and lenses, night vision equipment, tape recorders and transcribers, binoculars and optical equipment, cellular phones, secure telephone unit (STU) equipment, enforcement badges, CI pocket commissions, slide projectors, microfilm reader printers, padded training suits and firearm training systems.

These are items with a monetary value generally less than $150 and used by CI for carrying out its investigative and enforcement functions. Investigative accessories and supplies include, but are not limited to, the following: Ammunition, pepper spray, targets, holsters, gun cleaning equipment and supplies, microphones, headphones, adapter cables and converters, film, video and audio tapes, handcuffs, warning lights, batteries, bolt cutters, equipment bags, fingerprint kits, pagers, flashlights, tripods, camera accessories, tools, red guns, impact bags, mats, leg irons, raid hats and raid jackets.

The Chief, CI is responsible for:

Each Director, Field Operations is responsible for establishing CIECS operating guidelines for his or her office.

Each Director, Field Operations is responsible for establishing guidelines for the tracking undercover equipment in his or her area.

The Special Agent in Charge (SAC) will:

Each CI Head of Office will maintain custody of all frequently used investigative equipment assigned to his or her area. He or she will cause an inventory to be conducted during the last quarter of the fiscal year of all investigative equipment assigned to the field office, area office or Headquarters Office and will personally sign and be accountable for this equipment after being satisfied that the inventory is correct. In conjunction with the annual inventory, the CI Head of Office will insure that all equipment is inspected for suitability for continued use, with special emphasis to the inspection of firearms and body armor. The reliability of firearms and body armor is directly related to their use and maintenance, replacement will continue to be based on the results of a visual inspection. The Head of Office will also designate a CI field employee to monitor and assure that property accountability controls are properly maintained.

In addition, each Head of Office is responsible for:

Each time there is a change of a CI Head of Office, an inventory will be taken, and the new official will personally sign and be accountable for the equipment.

The property officer typically coordinates the inventory, control and accountability of all investigative or non-investigative equipment between Facilities Management and CI for the office where he or she is located.

When a custody or property officer issues an employee personal property, the Form 1930, Custody Receipt for Government Property, for that employee will be updated. An original copy of Form 1930, with the employee's signature, should be maintained on file until such property is returned.

The property officer will be responsible for inputting all investigative equipment valued at $150 or more into CIECS.

Except for those devices described in (3) below, field offices may not purchase, fabricate or have manufactured any consensual monitoring equipment or accessories without approval from the Director, Finance Section or his or her designee. Additionally, all equipment obtained with approval will be entered into the CI Equipment Control System (CIECS) by the acquiring office.

CI field offices may maintain an inventory of induction coils, in-line recording devices or similar devices for use when consensual telephone monitoring is approved.

Field offices may purchase induction coils, in-line recording devices or similar devices locally. Use of personally-owned induction coils, in-line recording devices or similar devices is prohibited.

Responsibility for electronic monitoring equipment will be assigned to the Headquarters Office technical representative in the Finance Section. At the request of the SAC, the Headquarters Office technical representative may reassign monitoring devices to a field technical agent. He or she will maintain a control record showing the date each monitoring device was released from storage, to whom it was assigned and the date it was returned to storage. The monitoring device will be returned promptly to the designated custodian after its authorized use.

Only those criminal investigators who have attended training programs in the use, operation, and installation of electronic surveillance equipment (except induction coils, in-line recording devices, or similar devices) will be permitted to install and operate such equipment, unless in emergency situations another individual is specifically authorized to do so by the SAC, or his or her designee. Training for this type of equipment will be conducted with sufficient frequency to assure that operators and installers of the equipment retain their expertise.

The Headquarters Office, Director, Finance Section, oversees the purchases or lease of all investigative equipment.

No-cost acquisitions include property:

CI offices will conduct an annual inventory of investigative equipment and investigative accessories and supplies during the last quarter of the fiscal year. CI will coordinate with local Facilities Management to insure office equipment and furniture in CI is accurately recorded on Property Assets Tracking System (PATS). In order to maintain the proper separation of duties, an employee may not inventory equipment where he or she is responsible for maintaining that inventory.

At the time the annual inventory is conducted, a new Form 1930 will be generated from the CIECS system and signed by the person having custody of the property. These signed Forms 1930 will be maintained in accordance with local CIECS operating guidelines. In this inventory, the Head of Office will consider whether;

Due to the dangerous nature of firearms and the potential for accidental injury and damage, firearms will be stored in a locked container or vault when not in use.

Each individual to whom a firearm has been issued will take precautions against its theft, misuse or loss. When not carried, issued firearms will be stored as in (1) above.

When it is necessary to store a firearm at home, it will be secured with a combination trigger lock. The safe operation of the trigger lock will not require the agent to unload the weapon.

Firearms and ammunition normally will never be left in an automobile even though the automobile is locked. However, under unusual circumstances, if absolutely necessary and there is no reasonable alternative available, these items may be stored for short periods in the locked trunk of an automobile. This is provided the doors of the automobile are also locked. Under no circumstances will a firearm be left unattended in the passenger compartment of the automobile or overnight in the trunk.

Ammunition will be stored in a security cabinet or a security room. It is preferable to store surplus ammunition separately from firearms.

The likelihood of an accidental discharge is increased when a semiautomatic pistol is loaded or unloaded due to the necessity to "work the slide" when chambering or ejecting a round. Therefore, all Service-owned pistols issued for carry and daily use should be stored loaded in individual gun lockers.

Each CI Head of Office, or his or her designee, will establish a loading and unloading point in each office (to include a "bullet trap" or "clearing pit" ) for use by agents when it becomes necessary to load or unload a IRS-owned weapon in the office.

For more information, see minimum guidelines for storing government-owned firearms and ammunition as contained in IRM 1.16, Physical Security Program.

Property lost, stolen, damaged, or destroyed will be reported on Form 1933, Report of Survey, in triplicate, to the CI Head of Office. The recommendation of the Director, Field Operations and the survey officer or survey board is required. The Director, Field Operations and the survey officer or survey board will have final authority.

If the recommendation includes the replacement of the property by the employee, the original purchase cost of the equipment will be used to determine the cost to the employee.

The Chief, CI, is the Headquarters Office approving authority for Reports of Survey for losses involving investigative equipment (including surveillance vehicles) under the control of Headquarters Office CI personnel. The Chief, CI, has designated that the Finance Section has the responsibility for maintaining records showing the disposition of the investigative equipment and will appoint a survey officer.

For more information concerning the survey board and its procedure, see IRM 1.16, Physical Security Program.

The Headquarters, Directors, Field Operations, and field CI offices will report all excess property for disposal (including investigative) on a Form 1334, Requisition for Equipment, Supplies or Services, and forward the form to their local Facilities Management Office for disposition. The Facilities Management Office will prepare an SF–120 and forward it to the General Services Administration (GSA) for disposition instruction.

The Form 1334 shall include the following:

The Facilities Management custody and property officer will send a copy of the disposal document (e.g., SF–120) after disposition instructions from GSA to the responsible CIECS coordinator to ensure that the appropriate adjustments are made to their automated property systems.

When property has been disposed of, that disposition will be entered in the CIECS system by the disposing office. The appropriate disposition code will be entered in the CIECS record to accurately record the reason for disposal of the item.

For information concerning the disposal of forfeited property, see IRM 9.7, Asset Seizures and Forfeitures.

The following briefly describes the options forbidden and permitted for firearm disposal:

For information concerning the disposal of seized or forfeited firearms, see IRM 9.7, Asset Seizure and Forfeiture.

All 1811's and supervisors taking an active, participating role while conducting the following enforcement operations, should wear a ballistic vest (body armor):

Exceptions may be made to the guidelines established by Directive No. 8 on case-by-case basis. The final judgement on whether a ballistic vest must be worn, or whether an exception will be granted, rests with the supervisor of the enforcement operation or the warrant (raid) team leader when a supervisor is not present.

Undercover agents will make their own decision on the use of body armor, with the concurrence of their supervisor. These issues should be discussed in detail by the undercover agent, and the supervisor in advance of the operation in order to anticipate what action will be safest for the undercover agent.

The facts relating to the use of ballistic vests will be addressed in all reviews where a firearm is discharged during an enforcement operation.

The Director, Finance Section, or his or her designee, and the radio communications section will acquire and distribute all radio communications equipment. Field offices may not purchase radio communications equipment, antennas, or supplies and may not modify any radio communications equipment without prior approval of the Director, Finance Section, or his or her designee, and the radio communications section.

No antenna site, radio base station, or repeater installation or relocation is to be made without the approval of the Director, Finance Section, or his or her designee, and the radio communications section. No site lease arrangements or cancellations may be made without such approval.

The following information should be included in the request for approval:

Installation, repair and maintenance of radio communications equipment and antennas will be performed under the IRS national radio maintenance agreement.

Government vehicles consist of makes, models, and types (such as an automobile, surveillance van, and aircraft). The vehicles can also be used for several different purposes. The following subsections describe some of the issues involved with government-used vehicles.

Special agents will not carry weapons or use ammunition other than that furnished by the IRS.

The Sig Sauer Model P228 (Sig 228) 9mm semiautomatic pistol is the standard IRS issue firearm for CI and will be issued to all special agents on a permanent basis. Agents will retain their assigned weapon during their entire career unless the weapon is recalled for repair or replacement.

If an agent has difficulty qualifying with the Sig 228 and the lead firearms instructor for the district has determined this is due to hand size and not lack of appropriate skills (which includes training, strength, or physical conditioning), the lead firearms instructor, with the consent of the CI Head of Office, should issue the agent a Sig 228 with a short trigger (smooth trigger) installed. If the instructor determines that hand size continues to prevent the agent from demonstrating sufficient proficiency with the trigger modified Sig 228, the instructor should issue the agent, with the consent of the CI Head of Office, a Sig Sauer P225 (Sig 225). The Sig 225 may be fitted with a short trigger to further accommodate agents with small hands. Should the Sig 225 prove to be too large as well, the Sig Sauer P 239 (Sig 239) is available as an approved weapon on a limited basis. Before a Sig 239 can be requested from the Headquarters Office, all efforts to qualify with a Sig 228 and 225 must be attempted. Similarly, agents with hands too large for the Sig 228 may be authorized to use a Sig Sauer P226 (Sig 226) by the CI Head of Office. The CI Head of Office must request approval to issue any authorized firearm other than the Sig 228, via memorandum to the Director, National CI Training Academy. This memorandum must clearly document the reasons for issuing an alternative firearm. Agents authorized to carry an alternative firearm must qualify with their assigned weapon prior to carrying that weapon and once every other fiscal quarter (twice a year).

Under unusual circumstances, the SAC, with notification to the Director, Field Operations may authorize the use of any IRS-owned weapon for a specific assignment. Agents authorized to carry weapons other than the Sig 228 for a specific assignment must qualify with their assigned weapon prior to carrying that weapon and once every other fiscal quarter (twice per year).

The SAC may authorize the use of any IRS-owned handgun for undercover operations. Undercover agents authorized to carry other than the Sig 228 must qualify with their assigned weapon prior to carrying that weapon and once every other fiscal quarter (twice per year).

Special agents are responsible for ensuring their assigned weapon is kept clean and in serviceable operating condition at all times.

All IRS-owned firearms must be inspected prior to issuance, and annually thereafter, by a Firearms Instructor who has completed armorer training or an IRS-authorized gunsmith to ensure each weapon is safe for use and in good operating condition.

Firearms requiring repair, adjustment or modification will be serviced by the manufacturer, an IRS-authorized gunsmith, or a Firearms Instructor who has completed armorer training and is currently certified by the manufacturer.

The changing of sights and triggers on the Sig 228 is authorized when, in the opinion of a Firearms Instructor, such action will improve the shooter's accuracy. Sights and triggers may only be changed by the manufacturer, an IRS-authorized gunsmith, or a Firearms Instructor who has completed armorer training and is currently certified by the manufacturer.

Modifications (other than changing sights and triggers on the Sig 228 or changing barrels and stocks on Remington shotguns) will not be made to an IRS-issued weapon without prior approval of the Director, National Criminal Investigation Training Academy.

Holsters of any standard type will be furnished by the field on the basis of one holster per weapon. Holsters must have a safety strap or be capable of retaining the weapon when weapon and holster are held upside down, allow one-handed drawing and reholstering, have a covered trigger guard and, with respect to semiautomatic pistols, allow the agent to remove the magazine while the weapon is holstered. The holster will be attached to the body. Purses and briefcases may only be utilized in sanctioned undercover operations.

All requests to purchase or acquire a firearm should be directed to the Director, Finance Section, for approval.

Each CI Head of Office, or his or her designee, will make provisions for the destruction of those weapons determined to be uneconomical to repair in accordance with IRM 1.16, Physical Security Program. See above subsection 9.11.3.9.3 of this section regarding the disposal of firearms.

Headquarters CI will issue and maintain administrative controls of the enforcement badges, pocket commissions, and credential cases for all CI personnel in the GS–1811 series.