Patrol is the largest Division of the Police Department. Its primary responsibility is responding to calls for service from the community. These can range from neighborhood disputes, domestic violence incidents and traffic accidents, to burglaries in progress and death investigations.
As the First Responder to criminal complaints, patrol officers are responsible for seeing to the medical needs of anyone involved, interviewing witnesses, recognizing and preserving evidence, determining whether, in fact, a crime has been committed, and identifying and ultimately arresting those responsible.
Officers of the Patrol Division are also expected to provide proactive services such as traffic enforcement, crime detection and suppression, conducting business and property checks, and initiating contacts with community members to further the department’s commitment to Community and Problem Oriented Policing.
Officers assigned to the Patrol Division are divided into five squads. Four patrol squads are responsible for 24-hour street coverage, seven days a week. Each squad is supervised by a Sergeant and has seven patrol officers. The fifth squad, the Special Service Unit works 5 days a week during high call volume and overtime periods to assist in the workload and reduce overtime expenses.