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Patrol Patrol Services Detective Division |
PATROL
The Patrol division is the backbone of the Department with the most
recognizable division members in the city. Officers assigned to the patrol
division are assigned to one of six teams and provide around the clock service
to Portland residents, employees, and visitors. All of the patrol teams
are comprised of proactive officers that have a strong desire to serve the
community. The dedication of these officers to serve the community is not
only demonstrated in their daily responsibilities but in their desire to be
involved in one of the Department's specialty assignments.
SPECIALTY ASSIGNMENTS
SRT team
The Department is fortunate to have a highly skilled group of officers that
volunteer to be a part of the Portland Police Special Reaction Team. The team
was formed in 1984 and has evolved from a small unit of 8 individuals to a 27
member team composed of negotiators, paramedics and a counter sniper unit.
This team is assigned to some of the most dangerous situations in which officer
assistance is required. Although members are in top physical
condition and trained to use a variety of weapons, these officers are just as
skilled at methods of communication designed to de-escalate problems to ensure a
safe resolution to any crisis.
K9 Unit
The
Portland Police Department's canines are trained in all facets of patrol work to
include: tracking criminals, missing persons, narcotics detection, evidence
recovery, and explosive detection. The Department's dogs are extremely
loyal and valuable partners with additional training to fiercely protect their
handlers. The mere presence of a police dog at a scene not only prevents
crimes but also makes the job of policing that much easier for all of Portland's
officers. Occasionally. an offender may out run an officer but they
don't out run the Department's police dogs.
Current K9 unit teams:
K9 Jake and Officer Cole
K9 Taz and Officer Stickney
K9 Justice and Officer Noyes
K9 Tony and Officer Coyne
K9 Nick and Officer Balzano
Hazardous Devices Unit
The Hazardous Devices Unit was started in 2005 with the assistance of federal
grants. The HDU has 6 members consisting of a Captain, Lieutenant and four
patrol officers. All of the members are FBI certified bomb technicians.
This team is equipped with advanced technology and trained to remove
and/or render safe suspected explosive material, improvised explosive devices (IED's),
incendiary devices and ordinance. The team has responded to more than two dozen
suspicious and/or actual explosive calls for service to include look-a-like
devices, chemical bombs, hand grenades and pipe bombs. Under the mutual aid
agreement amongst area communities, the HDU team responds to any requests for
service within and around the greater Portland area.
Dive Team
The Portland Police Department maintains a highly specialized Public Safety
Dive Team established in 1989. This Unit is comprised of five officers, a
supervisor and a civilian trainer/dive safety officer. Since its inception,
Portland’s Public Safety Dive Team has responded to any situation requiring
underwater search and recovery capability, often in conjunction with federal and
state agencies. These activities have resulted in the recovery of bodies,
vehicles, safes, weapons and other evidence used by the Department to meet its
mission.
Each diving member of the team has complete hundreds of hours of specialized
training and received certifications in areas of SCUBA Rescue, Search and
Recovery Diving, Public Safety Diving and Law Enforcement Diving. Each diving
member of the team undergoes monthly training in various aspects of underwater
activities and is evaluated on their aquatic capability to respond to
underwater missions. With Portland’s waterfront location, this team is of vital
importance to the Department and the City of Portland.
Training-Body Recovery
Training-Weapon Recovery
Scooter Training
PATROL SERVICES
The Patrol Services division is responsible for a number of important services and tasks at the Department. This division offers direct support to the Patrol, Detective and Administration divisions in addition to staffing some of the more unique patrol positions in Portland.
Directed Patrol
The Portland Police Department has both day and evening directed patrol teams. These teams are staffed by individuals with a strong commitment to proactive policing, crime prevention, and working with the community. Members of these teams regularly conduct warrant and bail checks, knock and talks, undercover drug operations, and prostitution stings. Officers on these teams may be in uniform or plain clothes and seek to target and eliminate specific crime problems. These officers work to combat crime throughout the city wherever, and whenever, there is a problem that needs to be addressed. Although you may see these dedicated officers in your area, they are not your beat officer and will only remain in your neighborhood until a crime problem is eliminated.
Traffic Unit
Officers assigned to the traffic unit are responsible for enforcing traffic
laws throughout the city but specifically targeting traffic problems as they
arise. For example, it is not unusual to see an officer from the traffic unit
following school buses in the fall due to the number of people that will pass a
stopped school bus as children are boarding or crossing the street to go home at
the end of the day. These officers are also involved in investigating all
hit and run accidents and serious accidents including fatal accidents that occur
in the city.
Is speeding an issue on your street? Do people fail to stop at the stop sign at the corner? We want to know! Click here to email the traffic sergeant or call the traffic unit at 874-8532 so an officer can respond to your concerns.
Jetport
Officers assigned to the Jetport work with TSA to ensure the security of
flights in and out of the Jetport. One of the Portland Police Department's K9
teams primary assignments is to the Jetport because of the canine's ability to
detect explosives. In addition, officers also enforce local laws and
assist people in distress.
Island services
The Island services unit provides police patrol services to Peaks Island and
is the only island in Casco Bay to receive 24 hour service. Due to the
distinctive
characteristics of island living officers that are assigned to Peaks Island also
have some unique characteristics. Not only are the men and women assigned to the
island trained police officers, but also as firefighters and emergency medical
technicians. Peaks Island officers are well-equipped to deal with all types of
emergencies but engaged in prevention techniques and building relationships with
residents in hopes to prevent those emergencies from occurring.
After patrol officers
respond to a crime scene they forward their preliminary investigation findings
to the members of our detective division. This division is divided into five
specialty areas: crimes against people, crimes against property, intelligence,
forensics, and court services.
After a crime has been committed, detectives from the appropriate division are
assigned the case for further investigation. The detective will work with the
victim and witnesses in an effort to develop information that may lead to the
identification of the suspect. The detective will then work tirelessly with
other members of the PPD, surrounding agencies, and evidence technicians to
bring the case to a successful resolution.
The intelligence unit is responsible for the collection and correlation of
intelligence information collected by various members of the Department. Intel
is then responsible for distributing this information to patrol and detectives
through the various medians.
Crime lab
Computer
crime lab
With
the ongoing advancement of computer technology and the exponential increase
of incidents where technology is used to commit criminal acts, the Portland
Police Department has responded with the addition of the Technical Services
Detective. Established in July 2006, the Technical Services Detective (TSD)
role is focused on three primary areas of investigation: investigating cases
in which a computer was used to perpetrate crime, assisting other detectives
in aspects of their cases that involve computers or digitally recorded media
and performing research and tasks that help improve electronic resources
within the police department.
Through association with the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit
(Formerly the Maine Computer Crimes Taskforce), the TSD undergoes
comprehensive training in computer science that allows the Portland Police
Department to recover data, even from computers that have been damaged, and
provide expert court testimony in computer-related cases. While many of
these skills may be applied to aid other Detectives in their investigations
of various other crimes, the majority of work done by the TSD is in
combating the ever-abundant sexual exploitation of children over the
internet.
From robberies captured on digital video recorders to simple cases of
harassment via e-mail, digital evidence is increasingly becoming a more
frequent component at all crime scenes. Typically, however, neither business
owners or police officers are very knowledgeable about transferring digital
video files to a format viewable in court or tracing & analyzing internet
communications. By employing the assistance of the TSD there is an increased
likelihood of recovering this valuable evidence and preserving it in a way
that can be presented at criminal trial. The TSD similarly archives
incidents and events captured on police vehicle digital dash-cams and also
that occur inside Police Headquarters.
Finally, the TSD has also been utilized to help streamline and improve
procedures already in place at Portland Police Headquarters. Consulting in
development of the next version of the Computer Aided Dispatch system
available to officers in the field, researching and designing schematics for
the headquarters digital surveillance systems and designing computer
programs that allow police personnel to interactively access information in
police resource manuals have all been areas in which the TSD has allowed the
Department to function more efficiently.
As new as technology is to crime, so too is the nature of the TSD/Computer
Crime Lab is to Portland PD; it is a balanced hybrid between what is
typically considered to be a “Detective” roll and the function of an
Evidence Technician. Currently, Detective Eli Chase is the officer assigned
to the Technical Services position. As the need increases and more funding
becomes available, PPD may be able to increase the number of
cyber-investigation specialists.
The members of the Administrative division of the Department are often forgotten because they tend to not be as visible as other division members but are critical to the smooth operation of the Department. The Department's command staff ensures that each team is operating efficiently, meeting goals, and proactively targeting problems. Captains are assigned to both Patrol and Patrol Services and report to the Deputy Chief of the Patrol division. A second Deputy Chief oversees the Detective division of the Department. These four men work to ensure that the needs of residents, business owners, community leaders and patrol officers are addressed. These individuals all work closely with the Chief of Police and keep him up to date on concerns and happenings in each division of the Department.