Uniform Division

There are currently 91 sworn officers allocated to the Uniform Division of the Lafayette Police Department. This number consists of 72 Uniformed Officers, 14 Commanders and 5 Technicians. The Uniform Division is divided into 4 shifts that work 12 hour rotations in 9 different patrol districts. Each shift consists of 20 Officers, 2 Sergeants and 1 Lieutenant. Six officers are assigned to the Traffic Unit, including 1 Sergeant and 1 Technician. The Traffic Unit is deployed on 8-hour shifts that match peak traffic patterns. The Emergency 911 Dispatch Center is also assigned to the Uniform Division and includes 27 civilian communication technicians and 1 civilian communication technician supervisor. Communication technicians work 8-hour shifts. All personnel within the Division report to a Captain.

Vehicles

There are approximately 102 vehicles assigned to the Uniform Division. These vehicles consist mainly of marked patrol vehicles, but also include unmarked patrol vehicles, administrative vehicles, and 2 highly specialized vehicles assigned to the SWAT team. Currently, the primary patrol vehicles are the Dodge Charger and Ford Explorer.

Community Policing

One of the major goals of the Lafayette Police Department is the reduction of crime through community partnerships and initiatives. CompStat is a management accountability tool that is continually modified to best focus on efforts to identify, target, and resolve major crime issues and disorder within geographical areas of the city. This Community Oriented/Problem Oriented Policing program encompasses the study of trends in calls for service, and working with locations and persons that require multiple responses from the police over time. Officers then analyze the problems and attempt to address the issue by correcting the factors that underlie the requests for police intervention. An example would be working with various city departments and community organizations to remodel and sell an abandoned property in a neighborhood, instead of the traditional approach of responding to and arresting trespassers at the property.

Problems are discussed at regular meetings concerning identified issues, and information is presented as to the success or failure of the attempts to correct the underlying issue. Past problems are tracked as part of the program to determine if the solution continues to be effective. A patrol commander is assigned to each of the 9 geographical LPD districts to help coordinate efforts.

The use of the NextDoor application to link neighborhoods to the PD and officers assigned to each organized neighborhood group aid in the early identification of issues within neighborhoods.