Sierra Falls Police Department Role Playing Game
Database - Unit Information |
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Anti-Crime Detective Bureau |
The Anti-Crime Division of the Detective Bureau provides two main roles in the Sierra Falls area. Firstly, to proactive engage criminality by means of intelligence gathering and focused operations. Secondly to investigate narcotics, vice and gang related crime, generally called 'Street Crime' in the Sierra Falls area.
To perform these roles Anti-Crime Detectives generally work undercover to gather intelligence. They are a pro-active division, meaning they go out looking for crime, rather than waiting until it is reported. Anti-Crime is segmented into the Intelligence Development Unit and the Street Crime Unit, though both teams work often overlap, due to it's nature.
The Anti-Crime Division of the Detective Bureau provides two main roles in the Sierra Falls area. Firstly, to proactive engage criminality by means of intelligence gathering and focused operations. Secondly to investigate narcotics, vice and gang related crime, generally called 'Street Crime' in the Sierra Falls area. To perform these roles Anti-Crime Detectives generally work undercover to gather intelligence. They are a pro-active division, meaning they go out looking for crime, rather than waiting until it is reported. Anti-Crime is segmented into the Intelligence Team and the Street Crime Team, though both teams work often overlap, due to it's nature. |
Criminal Investigations Detective Bureau |
SFPD Criminal Investigations Detective Bureau (CIDB) is responsibile for the investigation of all major crime in the Sierra Falls Police Department area. Detectives in SFPD offer general investigative support for the entire range of criminal offences, however it is often the case that individuals will choose to focus on particular types of crimes, in addition to assisting their colleagues investigate others. It is not uncommon for an SFPD Detective to have around 20 active crimes to investigate, with up to 5-7 named suspects.
CIDB Detectives work in close association with both divisional officers and the Anti-Crime Detective Bureau to gather intelligence upon suspects; and also with the Crime Scene Investigation & Forensic Science Bureau to establish suspects to different crimes.
SFPD Academy in conjunction with Santa Maria County Sheriff's Department offers courses to officers wishing to specialise in the investigation of the following crimes:-
- Commerical/Property Crime - burglary, forgery & counterfeiting, lotteries & extortion
- Sexual & Child Offences - rape, indecency, abduction, abuse, neglect, abandonment
- Robbery & Homicide - murder, attempts to kill, robbery, kidnap, false imprisonment
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The Street Crime Team is a specialised team directed by Anti-Crime DB command to target specific problem areas of drugs related street and gang crime; and combat this criminality through firm proactive intelligence led policing. The SCT is funded primarily from the auction of recovered property and money seized from criminality.
The SCT currently works from a dedicated covert building covering the eastern portion of Central District and western portion of East District, i.e. the border areas between the two, consisting of Jefferson Park, Los Torres and Meanwood. They may also work from the SFPD Headquarters building on occasion. |
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The Aviation Wing, also known as Air Support, is staffed by both civilian (generally ex-military) and police staff. They operate three variations of aircraft, all helicopters
- Aerospatiale SA 365 Dauphin 2
- Bell UH-1N Huey
- Bell 206B Jet Ranger;
from the SFPD Operations Complex, West Haven, Sierra Falls. The unit is headed by a Captain and two Lieutenants. Each crew (helicopter) is commanded by a Sergeant (either Pilot or Observer) and has at least 2 Officer air observers. Attachments to the Aviation Wing may be granted to Detectives or Officers if deemed that such experience would be beneficial to the effectiveness of the Department. |
Crime Scene Investigation |
Crime Scene Investigation and Forensic Science Services are based in a specifically designed and constructed series of offices and laboratories situated in Effingham, Sierra Falls.
The SFPD Crime Lab was built in 1999 and upgraded in 2004 to incorporate the best possible scientific standards in relation to evidence detection and collection available. Sierra Falls Police Department Criminalists provide Crime Scene Investigation coverage for the whole of the city of Sierra Falls, Pineville and Discovery and are often called upon to assist Santa Maria County Sheriff's Department with their investigations.
Criminalists can either be sworn police officers or professionally qualified civilians. They may work alone or in teams to gather evidence from crime scenes, victims, suspects and objects. Criminalists attend the scenes of incidents as soon as control of the scene has been established by either Police Officers or Detectives. They attend as requested by dispatch and as a result work are required to work varying shifts.
Criminalists DO NOT interview or arrest suspects as this may lead to cross contamination of evidence (where evidence from the scene could be transferred onto the suspect purely due to the CSI attending to both). They are physical evidence gatherers and provide details of their work to detectives once they have performed their assigned task.
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The Highway Policing Unit (HPU) is based at the West Haven Operations Complex, Renishaw, Sierra Falls, beside Highway 135 and is commanded by Lieutenant Andrew Cooper.
HPU provide support for divisional staff by both covert and high-visibility patrol of the major routes throughout the Sierra Falls area. HPU officers are specialists in Vehicular and Traffic law, enabling them to deal with offences at a much more in depth level than uniform divisional staff. They attend and investigate all serious and fatal road traffic collisions and provide support to divisional staff at other incidents as required.
HPU currently operate 2 types of vehicles (seperate to the Motorcycle Wing):-
- Highway Cruiser - currently the 2006 5.7 litre Dodge Charger/Magnum, which has replaced the Ford Police Interceptor in this role.
- Incident Control/Commercial Enforcement Vehicle - currently there are two vehicles utilised for this role, those are the Ford Expedition; Chevrolet Tahoe.
HPU also encompasses the Motorcycle Wing.
Motorcycle Wing operate Harley Davidson and BMW 1000cc motorcycles fully equipped with lights and sirens and marked in Police Department colours. They also have a range of equipment to enable them to deal with offenders, including an onboard video recorder and the ProVida speed calculation system. The bikes are also each equipped with ProLaser Speed Enforcement equipment.
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K9 Handlers, previously attached to districts, have been brought under the Operational Support Services Division due to the current lack of handlers throughout the department area. K9 Handlers provide assistance to patrol, highway, detective and SWAT officers throughout the SFPD area. Their specific duties, dependant upon the individual K9's skills, include:-
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the tracking, immediate pursuit and detainment of offenders, suspects and fugitives.
- assistance in drugs, firearms, explosive, body/body part, weapon & handled property searches of land, premises, vehicles and at seaports, airports and rail terminals;
- assistance with public disorder incidents (dependant upon K9 temperament)
- Firearms Incident & Dangerous Environment Observation (abbreviated to Fido) system, the use of a K9 mounted camera to see into areas perceived to be of high-risk to officers safety.
There are always, at least, two K9 Handlers on duty at any one time.
In addition to their role-specific duties, these specialist officers also provide assistance by proactively patrolling the Sierra Falls Police Department area and responding to calls as required by dispatch.
K9 handlers operate under the command of Operational Support Services Division, and are specifically supervised by Special Weapons & Tactics command staff (Lt Clarke).
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In 2005 a joint agency disaster management strategy was drafted between the FDSF, SFPD and City of Sierra Falls Contingency Planning Department. This included the training of specific police officers in each area and field of expertise to paramedic standard. These paramedic officers offer assistance at incidents requiring medical attention in addition to conducting their ordinary patrol duties. If a major incident is declared, these officers will be freed from their commitments by the department to attend and assist where possible. |
Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) |
Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) was formed to provide a ready response to situations that are beyond the capabilities of normally equipped and trained Department personnel.
Contrary to popular belief SWAT is a life preserving unit, designed to safeguard the lives of the innocent, and where possible arrest offenders to enable their prosecution. SWAT officers have specific duties which include:-
- containment & resolution of hostage situations
- assisting or executing high-risk warrants
- dispersal & control of large scale public disorder
- specialist methods of entry into buildings and vehicles
- specialist and large area methods of search of open land, premises, vehicles and persons
In addition to these duties SWAT officers patrol in marked police cruisers and assist divisional staff by providing a visible police presence and also responding to incidents where they feel their assistance as additional police officers, or as SWAT, may be required.
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Community Services Bureau |
The Community Services Bureau administers training and implementation of the several programs that the SFPD offers to reach out and better serve the community. While the programs are implemented by officers and detectives that also perform other duties as assigned, the training and administration cadre works out of a single office.
These programs, including the Crisis Intervention Team, D.A.R.E. education, Community Policing, Bi-lingual Officer Training Program and Police Atheletic Association are funded by a consortium of government and private grants and endowments. Additionally, the Chaplain Corp, which is also administered out of this office, is made up of volunteer clergy from the Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddist faiths.
'Community Policing Team' is the new name for the local police. These officers are based in area offices and patrol on foot, bicycle, motorcyle or car; the area they are assigned to. City Center CPT operates from Ash Street Precinct. These officers regularly attend community meetings and also police local events, though they are available to respond to emergency incidents as and when required.
The Bureau is headed by a lieutenant, who also serves as an ombudsman. The C.I.T. is headed by the Police Psychologist, Dr. Lorin Michaels, and is assisted by a Sergeant. The Community Policing, Chaplain program and Bi-lingual Officer program are administered by a sergeant as a unit, and the DARE and PAA programs are administered by a third sergeant.
DARE Program
D.A.R.E. (Drug Awareness and Resistance Education) is a nationally recognized program whereby law enforcement officers visit classrooms to teach children from elementary to middle school age the dangers of elicit drug use. The SFPD Officers who participate in this program feel that they are effectively reaching out in a way that shows that they care.
Crisis Intervention Team (CIT)
The Crisis Intervention Team consists of patrol officers who, in addition to their normal duties, are available to assist officers and consumers' deal with persons with mental illness. These officers take initial training and annual inservice training to learn how to calm agitated consumers, help them find proper treatments in the community and advise other officers in how to treat the mentally ill. Some detectives serve in the capacity of CIT officers but usually that is because they were trained when patrol officers.
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Internal Affairs & Professional Standards Bureau |
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Police Officers and employees must maintain a high degree of self-discipline and professional standards to maintain the public confidence. As with all tasks performed as a service to the public there will be occasions when the tasks are not performed to the satisfaction of the public, the Department or the City. This inevitably leads to some form of complaint against the Department, individual units and individual officers.
All complaints must be thoroughly and impartially investigated. To that end, Internal Affairs operates as the investigative arm of the Chief of Police to identify and report corruption and employee behavior that tends to discredit the Department or violate a Department policy, procedure or practice. Internal Affairs also conducts Board of Rights hearings and reviews all complaint investigations for consistency and fairness.
Internal Affairs is commanded by a senior officer and staffed by a number of supervisors (Lieutenant) and investigators (Sergeants, Detectives, Officers). They are tasked with the impartial investigation of any complaints made by members of the public, the City, the Department or other officers. Investigations are often carried out covertly to avoid interference with the gathering of evidence. All investigations conducted by IA will be reported to the Office of the Chief of Police at their commencement and all findings will be reported at their conclusion. Complaints are presented to the Chief of Police for a fair and appropriate adjudication and /or sanction, with consideration given to the complainant, the Department, the individual employee, and the public trust. |
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