Support Services
Assistant Chief Jim Berry: 325-676-6600
Send E mail to mailto:jim.berry@abilenetx.com
| Training Division | Communications Division | Record Division | |
|Property Division | Community Services Division |
Training Division
Contact: Lt. Joe Noret 325-676-6539
Send E Mail to joe.noret@abilenetx.com
The Abilene Police
Department Training Division is housed at the Warren Dodson Police Training
Complex just North of Abilene. The mission of the Training Division is to
recruit and select the best qualified candidates for the position of Police
Officer, to provide meaningful and effective entry-level training, and to
provide in-service training and weapons proficiency training to all police
personnel. Staffing for the division includes a Lieutenant, who is the Director
of Training for the department, two Training Officers, one Range master, and a
civilian office manager.
The Training Division's job description is extremely varied, ranging from the development of training curriculum and lesson plans, to research and development. All use of force and weapons policy is developed through the division, and it serves as the center for testing and evaluation for many new police products that come onto the police market.
The Training Division is made up of two components. The
The second component of the Training Division is the
The latest addition to the complex is the Police Tactical Obstacle Course. The course was designed and built by our Tactical Unit, and is used in continuing training for members of our department as well as officers from around the area. In our continuing effort to maintain the excellent relationship between the Abilene Police Department and Dyess Air Force Base, the O-course is used by specialized units from Dyess for training. The course is extremely difficult and physically challenging, and involves running, jumping, climbing and the circumventing or accomplishing of physical barriers or tasks. It is about 1.5 miles long and currently has 27 different obstacles.
Communications Division
Contact: Wayne Brandt
325-673-8331
Send E Mail to Wayne.Brandt@abilenetx.com
"The
mission of the Communications Division is to provide quality service to the
public safety departments, enabling these agencies to perform their duties
effectively; to provide requested and quality services to the citizens in a
timely and courteous manner; to maintain high standards of
professionalism."
The Communications Division is an essential link between the public and emergency assistance. Emergency and non-emergency calls for assistance are received through 'Enhanced 9-1-1' (E9-1-1), police and fire non-emergency phone lines. Hearing impaired callers are assisted through the TDD phone line.
The Communications Division is the lifeline of the Department. Communications operators are the link between the citizen in need and the responding personnel. Dispatchers rely key information to responding police units, provide pre-arrival medical assistance (via protocol charts), notify local ambulance service providers and fire departments. Dispatchers are also able to provide reassurance and understanding to the citizen in need when an emergency occurs. The Communications Division is also relied upon to assist in the safety of on-scene fire and police personnel.
The Communications Division is the public safety answering point for all
E9-1-1 calls in Taylor County, Texas, with primary service to the Abilene
Police and Fire Departments. The division has the responsibility of being the
first level of response when an emergency occurs in our response area.
Additionally, Communications is responsible for proper routing and referral of
calls to which Abilene Police and Fire Departments do not respond. The Division
dispatches all emergency and non-emergency request for
service for the Abilene Police and Fire Departments, as well as the Tye and 
Staffing of the Communications Division consists of thirty-one authorized positions including twenty-six communicator (dispatch) positions, five first line supervisors and one division director. All personnel in the Communications Division are civilian. The re-classification of the division director from uniform to civilian was completed in 1994, this makes the Communications Division the first division within the Abilene Police Department to utilize full civilian staffing.
New communicators (dispatchers) are trained in a four-phase six month in-house training program. The training begins with call taking and moves on to fire and First*Flight dispatching and is completed with police dispatching. Training is conducted by Civilian instructors who are TCLEOSE trained. Training topics include, but are not limited to geography, telephone and radio procedures, CPR, job related terminology, and use of numerous in-house and statewide computer systems.
Records Division
Contact: Donna Littlefield 325-676-6513
Fax Number: 325-676-6504
donna.littlefield@abilenetx.com
CRASH/ACCIDENT REPORTS ON LINE FOR ABILENE, TEXAS
CRASH/ACCIDENT ON
LINE NATIONAL DATABASE
In recent years, organizations in both the private and public sectors have come to realize that controlling information, rather than resources, is a key to success. This theory is central to the success of a law enforcement agency, where criminal histories, investigations, statistics, and intelligence information provide the backbone for understanding and fighting crime.
In the Abilene Police Department, information is gathered by officers throughout the department in the course of crime prevention, intervention, and investigation. In order to make information gathered by one division accessible to all others, all information is funneled to one location where it can be processed, stored, and reviewed conveniently. This central hub for information is the Records Section. Property and Evidence works in association with the Records Division to provide support services for the Department. In March 1996, a civilian manager was appointed to head the division. In November of 1997, a civilian supervisor was added to oversee the production of services rendered by the Records Division.
Records/Property and Evidence (PED) is a multi-functional Division in the Support Services Bureau. It is comprised of a Manager, a supervisor, eleven (11) Records Administrative Clerks, two (2) PED Custodians and one (1) Civilian Breath Test Operator. Administrative Clerks logs-in, processes, enters data, stores data, transcribes supplements and file cases. PED Custodians book-in and release property and evidence; store, maintain security, safety and accountability for property and evidence.
While the primary goal of the Records Division is to provide support for other divisions, a considerable portion of our time is spent working directly with the public. Administrative clerks provide citizens with several services such as providing accident and offense reports. Information is also gathered and prepared for local media representatives by Records Personnel.
All requests for information must be in writing. Release of information is done in accordance with the Texas Public Information or the Freedom of Information Act. In all, the Records Division processes and maintains nearly 26,000 cases each year.
Providing information to the Public is essential to the Operation of the Records Division, The cost of providing Public Information to citizens is based on guidelines provided by the General Services Commission.
Police Reports may be obtained at the Records window of the Police Department during the following hours:
8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Monday-Friday
The Records Window will be closed Saturday-Sunday.
Impounded Vehicles can still be released on Saturday & Sunday
by contacting the Desk Officer.
Charges effective: 9-01-2005
Accident Reports $6.00
Notarized Accident Reports $7.00
Police Reports $.10 per page
(Victim Request)
Notarized Police Reports
$1.00
(Victim Request)
Police Reports $2.00 per report
(3rd Party Request)
Notarized Police Reports
$3.00
(3rd Party Request)
Standard Paper Copy $.10 each
Personnel Charges $15.00 per hour
Postage/shipping (actual cost)
VCR Tapes $2.50
Photographs (actual cost)
Fax Charges
Local $.10 per page
Long Distance/Same Area $.50 per page
Long Distance/Out of Area $1.00 per page
Identification Division
Contact: Officer Clayton Daniels 325-676-6515 or 676-6516
Two sworn officers and one civilian staff the Identification Division of the Abilene Police Department. Duties of this division include processing of physical evidence for latent prints, and identification of these prints by comparison with suspects, if suspects are known. Latent prints are also entered into the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), which compares latent prints lifted from crime seen evidence against the fingerprints of thousands of known offenders. Other duties require the examination of questioned documents, such as forgeries, etc., where they perform handwriting analysis to determine the author of a document.
The Identification Division provides fingerprinting services for the public upon request. They provide the service Monday through Friday from 9:00 to11:00 a.m., and from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.. There is a ten-dollar fee charged for this service.
Crime Analysis / Intelligence Division
Contact: Amie Miller 325-676-6623
Email To: amie.miller@abilenetx.com
The Crime Analysis / Intelligence Division is staffed by one sworn officer and one civilian Intelligence Specialist. Duties include, but are not limited to, developing crime patterns in geographical areas of the city and mapping of various types of crimes to show crime patterns. Predictions of high crime areas are attempted so that the patrol division may employ directed patrol methods.
Other duties of the Crime Analysis / Intelligence Division are to collect information from all of the other various divisions of the department. That information is verified, and then disseminated to other department divisions for their use. Intelligence data includes information from other officers of the department, officers from other agencies, information from informants, and data from offense reports.
Property and Evidence Division
Contact: 325-676-6581
Every night on the local or national news, we hear stories about drug related crimes, bank robberies, murder, and other terrible events. These stories tend to focus on the criminal - was he arrested? Was he convicted? How will he be sentenced? One interesting bit of information which we often fail to consider is what happens to the evidence - the drugs, the money, or the murder weapon.
The Abilene Police Department, like most law enforcement agencies, considers the care and control of property and evidence to be a very high priority in policing. In order to control this process as effectively and efficiently as possible, A.P.D. funnels all property or evidence associated with a crime to one central location for processing and storing: the Property and Evidence Section.
The Abilene Police Department Property and Evidence Division (PED for short) is a three-member unit in the Records Division. It is responsible for the care, custody, and control of all property recovered by the department and all evidence generated during the investigation of a crime. Like the Records Section and the Communications Division, PED is staffed entirely by civilians. The staff members are trained in police procedures to ensure that all items processed by PED are handled under strict standards which will stand even the closest scrutiny.
The items processed through PED are broken down into two basic classifications: property or evidence. Property is generally an item which is stolen then recovered by a citizen or police officer, or an item which is simply found by a citizen and reported to the police department. The Abilene Police Department recovers thousands of pieces of property each year, including bicycles, tools and equipment, sporting goods, stereo equipment, and guns. Bicycles are by far the most commonly recovered items - nearly 350 are taken in yearly.
When property comes to PED, it is booked into a secure vault for safekeeping
while the property custodians attempt to find the rightful owner. In some cases
the property is easily traced to the owner and released in a matter of days. In
many other cases, no information exists to begin a search, so the property may
sit in the vault unclaimed. Once a year, the City of
Literally thousands of property items go unclaimed each year. If you believe that you may have property stored in our vault, you may contact PED at (915) 676-6580 to inquire about procedures for finding or claiming your lost or stolen items. PED is open for calls or to return property from 8:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, except for the last Friday of each month when the closing time is 4:00 p.m.. Of course, the best solution to the problem of unclaimed property is PREVENTION. Contact the Abilene Police Department Community Services Division at (915) 676-6520 for information on programs such as Operation Bike Find and Operation Identification.
The second classification of items handled by PED is Evidence. An item is considered to be evidence if it relates in some form to the commission of a crime which is currently under investigation. Photographs, latent fingerprints, drugs, weapons, and money are examples of common types of evidence booked in with PED.
Evidence, due to the nature of how it is used in an investigation and scrutinized at trial, is handled in a slightly different manner than property. Chain of custody (documentation of who examines, handles, or takes possession of an item) is strictly monitored, and the items are kept secured in the department's primary vault where entry is very restricted. These measures are necessary to protect and control thousands of dollars in cash, a large inventory of illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia, and a wide selection of firearms.
Evidence is maintained in PED at the discretion of PED personnel and investigators until a case reaches a conclusion. The evidence is then returned to the rightful owner, destroyed in compliance with state and federal laws, or used by the department in the course of investigation and fighting crime.
Community Services Division
Contact: Sgt. Joe Tauer 325-676-6523
Send E -Mail to joe.tauer@abilenetx.com
The Community Services Division of the Abilene Police Department is charged with serving the public with timely crime prevention and safety education information; to provide a caring, positive image of the Police Department; and to distinguish problems and problem areas and work within the community to solve those problems.
Visit the Community Service Division Web Page
e-mail: apd@abilenetx.com