OPERATIONS

Patrol •  Traffic Unit •  Park Unit •  Bicycle Patrol Unit •  Canine Unit •  Investigation Unit •  Evidence Technician •  Community Service Officers •  Citizen Traffic Complaint •  Traffic Enforcement Request

Patrol

Patrol officers are primarily the first contact with citizens and must be “master generalists,” adept at handling a vast array of calls for service.  In the course of their 12-hour tour of duty, they can be involved in everything from a barking dog to a speeding motorist to a case of fraud.  The Patrol Division seeks to reinforce a positive daily interaction with citizens, building relationships necessary to carry a department and community through any crisis.  The Patrol Division will continue to build upon the professionalism and Commitment to Excellence during the coming years by strengthening its relationship with the community and within the Department.  To maintain solid, trusting relationships requires constant efforts at problem resolution, accountability, and both “thinking outside the box” and “looking at the big picture.”  This requires book smarts AND street smarts, with a large helping of diplomacy and tact.  We are fortunate the Village has been proactive on giving officers the tools they need to do their job, to include squad cars, duty gear, and providing a high level of training.  The Patrol Sergeants each supervise a shift of 4-5 officers, coordinating enforcement efforts and programs governed by state and local laws, and Village Board or citizen feedback.  For example, Day Shift teams primarily focus on school zones and traffic, whereas Night Shift teams focus on neighborhood/business patrol and DUI enforcement.  Duties vary constantly with whatever challenge a new day or night brings.  The Sergeants work to evaluate, encourage, inspire, and teach their officers how to be the best they can and serve the community well.

Traffic Unit

The Traffic Unit is dedicated and designed to respond to areas experiencing traffic problems such as a high volume of traffic crashes, speeding vehicles, stop sign violations, or any other traffic complaint received from citizens.  Traffic officers do not normally respond to typical calls for service but rather focus their entire day on traffic related matters.

Traffic officers receive specialized training and utilize special equipment in areas such as crash reconstruction/investigation, commercial motor vehicle enforcement, child passenger restraint installation, intoxicated motorist detection, and the use of advanced speed measuring devices.

By using education, enforcement, and engineering techniques, the traffic unit strives to reduce both property damage and injury traffic crashes and address individual citizen complaints in a timely and efficient manner in order to improve the safety and quality of life of the residents within the Village of Plainfield and the general motoring public as a whole.

Park Unit

The Plainfield Township Park District and the Plainfield Police Department have established a strong community oriented partnership that benefits both entities and citizens by the creation of a park unit.

Officers assigned to the park unit serve a dual specialty position in that half of their time is spent patrolling the Plainfield Township Park District parks and the other half of their time is spent in the traffic unit.  This unique scheduling ensures that Park Unit Officers best utilize their time by patrolling the parks when the parks are busy and focusing on traffic matters when the parks are not busy.

Bicycle Patrol Unit

The Bicycle Patrol Unit operates during the warm weather months.  This unit provides a uniformed patrol officer to areas of our jurisdiction which would otherwise be inaccessible.  The Bike Unit is responsible for patrolling pathways and park areas; they are additionally utilized during special events and festivals.

Canine Unit

Our K-9 Unit is comprised of Officer Wagner and his four-legged partner Aron.  Aron began his career with the Plainfield Police Department in August of 2006.  Their duties include tracking for missing persons or fleeing suspects, drug detection, searching for evidence, and handler protection.  Officer Wagner and Aron often demonstrate their skills at various community events.

Investigation Unit

Contrary to the various crime-solving television shows, criminal investigations involve a lot of paperwork, follow-up and pavement-pounding, and are not very exciting to the average person.  However, being able to solve a crime IS very exciting to a detective; and becomes that “carrot dangling” motivation to continue the “drudge work.”  Most cases start in Patrol, and based on level of complexity or time required, are assigned to Investigations.  Therefore, Investigations and Patrol must constantly communicate and coordinate to ensure the highest level of solution possible.  Investigations also work with Patrol on selective enforcement of identified criminal actions, such as construction theft.  Sometimes where little preliminary evidence is available, they can dig deeper and determine cause or suspects that can lead to solving a case.  The “critical thinkers” of a Department usually end up in Investigations.  Detectives are trained beyond the basic Interview and Interrogation to obtain more details and evidence to piece together facts.  Specialized areas also include juvenile investigations, cyber crime, identity fraud, and many other types of crimes not fully experienced by a street officer.  The changes within the Village of Plainfield yield new situations, and become a constant learning experience to stay on top of crime-solving techniques and data collection for investigating particular types of cases; i.e., retail theft, financial crimes over the internet, or construction theft.

Evidence Technician

The Evidence Technician is an officer who is specially training to collect, package, and process all types of evidence.  Our police facility is equipped with a state of the art evidence laboratory to assist the ET to perform his various duties.  In addition, the Evidence Technician acts as a liaison between the various crime laboratories.

Community Service Officers (CSO)

A CSO is a civilian position staffed by both full and part-time employees.  A CSO’s primary responsibilities focuses on enhancing all aspects of the police department by providing manpower where needed.  A CSO’s duties include ensuring safety at all school crossings, parking enforcement, animal calls, and assisting with other various service related calls.