Investigations Division
Springville’s “detectives” work in what we call the “Investigations Division.” Detectives usually wear “plain clothes” rather than the traditional police uniform. They also have different tasks or assignments to complete.
For example, after the patrol officers (the guys in uniform) respond to a call and write their report, that report gets sent to the detectives for follow up. They are assigned according to the type of crime reported. For example, property crimes. If someone breaks into your home while you are away, a uniformed officer will normally be the first officer on scene. Sometimes that officer will take care of everything needed for the initial reports. Other times the patrol officer will call for assistance from the detectives.
Either way, that burglary report will normally end up on the desk of one of our property crime detectives. The detective will then try to develop leads by contacting informants, pawn shops, digging through classified ads and so on. The Investigations Division will make sure any evidence that needs to be taken to the State Crime Lab will make it up there okay.
Sadly our work takes longer than the thirty or sixty minutes, minus commercials, that we see on the television ‘cop shows’ so sometimes people become impatient with the progress on a case. Sometimes there is little or no information to go on (for instance, please keep serial numbers, model numbers and/or photographs of your valuables).
If we are successful, we can sometimes make an arrest and sometimes even get some, most or even all of your property back. But even catching the bad guys does not mean you get to keep all of the stolen property! The more information you have on what you own makes our chances all that much better…
This “Division” also handles crimes against persons; robbery, rape, crimes against children, etc.. We work closely with the Children’s Justice Center to fight against child abuse. We also work closely with Juvenile Court, Juvenile and Adult Probation and Parole and other criminal justice agencies. Child abuse is probably one of the most difficult aspects of law enforcement, and investigating those types of crime can take its toll on our officers… thus those type of jobs (in fact all of our Investigations Division jobs) are rotated routinely between officers.
Undercover officers also handle the enforcement portion of our battle to end drug abuse. Working closely with our school resource officers and school officials, Springville Police Department takes a proactive role in stemming the tide of illegal drugs in our city.