Patrol Division

Fighting crime, improving the quality of life, and solving problems continue to be the goals of the Patrol Division. The Patrol Field Operations Section is the base of operations for the Police Department providing emergency response to in-progress crimes and incidents, as well as initial investigation and problem resolution on a wide range of peace keeping matters. They provide police services 24 hours a day, seven days a week for a city of more than 145,000.

The Traffic Control Unit provides focused enforcement attention on accident causing traffic violations with the goal of improving traffic safety and reducing traffic crashes. They also provide expertise to conduct investigations and reconstruction of fatal and serious injury crashes.

The Downtown Operations Group focuses on downtown crime and quality of life issues. They partner with the Salem Transit District to provide services at the transit mall as well as patrolling the downtown area. The unit provides a high visibility police presence, on foot and bicycle, to prevent and deter criminal activity. They focus on building relationships with downtown stakeholders and seek long term solutions to chronic nuisances and offenses.

The Domestic Violence Response Team is an advocate program, consisting of paid and volunteer positions that respond to domestic violence calls providing immediate information and support to the victim. They work in close coordination with officers in the Patrol Section who have received specialized training in the investigation of domestic violence to attain a higher prosecution rate.

The Telephone Reporting Office has qualified civilian employees taking crime reports that are not in progress or do not have a suspect, which allows sworn officers to work on community policing projects or to be available to respond to emergency calls for service.

The Service Dog Team provides specially trained officers and K-9 partners who have the ability to respond and assist with building searches, suspect tracking, suspect apprehension and narcotic detection. The K-9 Teams are a valuable tool in the apprehension of violent offenders, limiting potential injury to police officers and bystanders.

Community Service Officers (CSO) handle low priority, non-emergency calls for service in order to free police officers to respond quickly to emergency calls or calls for service requiring a sworn police officer. The CSO program, partially grant funded and is staffed with non-sworn personnel.

Special Teams provide the department and the community with specially trained and equipped personnel to respond to high risk situations. The teams include the SWAT Team, the Mobile Response Team, the Tactical Negotiations Team, the Bomb Team and the Trauma Team. Members of these teams must meet stringent selection criteria and receive intensive training for their special team duties and responsibilities as a collateral duty in addition to their regular assignment.

The Patrol Divsion has 124 FTE: One Deputy Chief, four Lieutenants, 14 Sergeants, 13 Corporals, 87 Officers, one Domestic Violence Advocate Coordinator, one Staff Assistant II, one Senior Telephone Reporting Specialist, and two Telephone Reporting Specialists.