City of Peoria, Arizona Criminal Investigation Bureau

Police Department

Criminal Investigation Bureau

The Criminal Investigations Bureau is the second component of the Operations Division and is comprised of three units, the General Investigations Unit, the Major Felony Unit, and the Street Crimes Unit.

The General Investigations Unit (GIU) is responsible for follow up investigation of criminal offenses that occur within the City. These detectives often specialize and develop an expertise in a certain area, such as with property crimes like burglary and theft. GIU specializes in other areas where specialization is needed such as family violence investigators and pawn shop investigations.

In the first nine months of 2001 GIU has had a total of 777 cases assigned for follow-up investigation. If this trend continues, it could result in an increase of about 26% of cases assigned. Thus far, for 2001 GIU has investigated approximately 8% of the total number of Incident Reports taken by patrol officers.

The Pawnshop function has grown dramatically. In all of 2000 only 10,782 pawn tickets were entered into the system. For the first nine months of 2001, 10,665 tickets have already been entered. This could result at year-end of an increase of about 31% in pawnshop activity. Additionally, the pawnshop detective conducts quarterly detailed inspections of each pawnshop and their activity.

In an effort to address the growing public concern with domestic violence cases and family violence matter, the GIU has specialized in the area of family violence. Detectives receive specialized training in the area of victim contact, the cycle of violence, and County Attorney Protocols on elder abuse, domestic violence, sexual assaults, and child molestation/abuse. In turn, GIU detectives are responsible for training patrol officers on initial response and investigation to prevent re-victimizing the victim and to keep the number of interviews needed for a successful prosecution to a minimum.

The Major Felony Unit (MFU) is responsible for conducting investigations on all major felony crimes; to include all crimes committed against children, sex crimes, homicides, robberies, and serious aggravated assaults. MFU detectives also track and make community notifications of all three level sex offenders residing in the city. MFU also has the responsibility of overseeing crime scene evidence processing through the use of an Identification Technician. Detectives assigned to this unit receive specialized training in advanced criminal forensic subjects directly related to criminal investigations.

The Arizona DPS maintains a site is to provide information to the public concerning the location of sex offenders within Arizona.
The site is at www.azsexoffender.com

In the first nine months of this year, MFU has been assigned 407 cases for follow-up investigations. Approximately 3.5% of all Incident Reports taken by Patrol Officers are assigned to MFU for follow-up investigation.

In 2000 the Peoria Police Department came on line with the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). It was anticipated that the first year would result in approximately 1,400 to 1,500 bookings. During the first full year that AFIS has been in operation, there has been in excess of 2,215 bookings. The Department has about 3,585 latent fingerprints impounded as evidence. Currently the Crime Scene Technician is processing these prints, some of which will eventually be scanned into the AFIS system for any matches.

In addition to the AFIS system, CIB also has several pieces of new technology available for crime scene processing. This equipment is the Aragon Laser Sweep, the Impulse 2000 laser measuring device and several new pieces of audiovisual equipment.

The Department’s Street Crimes Unit (SCU) is comprised of one sergeant and five detectives. It is responsible for the covert investigation and suppression of clandestine criminal offenses, illegal narcotics, vice enforcement, organized crime, apprehension of fugitives, recovery of stolen property, and gang member identification. The SCU also manages and controls confidential informant files and funds.

The majority of cases assigned to the SCU involve narcotic related activities. All narcotic related reports generated by officers assigned to the uniform patrol function are assigned to an SCU detective for follow up investigation. This includes additional interviewing, evidence collection, scientific laboratory requests, and follow up with the County Attorney’s Office for prosecution. Many of the cases eventually lead to the development of confidential informants, additional criminal cases, and other public safety agency follow up investigations.

With the advancements made in technology, the SCU has obtained new cameras, tracking devices, and surveillance equipment to fight the covert war on drugs and crime. In the first nine months of 2001 SCU has conducted over 450 hours of surveillance time and completed 14 search warrants. The efforts of SCU detectives have resulted in 180 arrests or complaints, along with $3,537,089.00 in drugs being removed from the streets and $315,966.35 in cash or property being seized

Frequently Asked Questions about The City of Peoria Police Department

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