Roanoke County Police Department

Accredited nationally by CALEA without a break since November 1992, the Roanoke County Police Department in Virginia works out of the county's Public Safety Center. Its Uniformed Patrol Division takes the first response to calls, conducts preliminary investigations, follows up on minor crimes, and enforces county ordinances and state law, using crime analysis to place patrols and running community policing and DDACTS initiatives. When time allows, patrol officers also serve warrants and work drug and weapons interdiction. A Special Operations Unit concentrates on traffic enforcement, school resource officers and animal control. Detectives in the Criminal Investigations Division are split among four units: general investigations for burglaries, armed robberies and vehicle thefts; a fraud unit for forgery, embezzlement, identity theft and scams; a special investigations unit for sex offenses, child and elder abuse and serious domestic violence; and a forensics unit that processes crime scenes and examines electronic devices. K-9 teams focus on narcotics detection. The department also runs a threat assessment program that helps employers prevent workplace violence, and its Citizens' View program lets residents and businesses register their security cameras.