Professional Services

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The Professional Services Division is overseen by an Assistant Chief and includes the Communications Section, Forensic Services Section, Support Services Section, Criminal Investigations Bureau, Planning & Research Section and Technology Section.

Communications Section

The Chandler Police Department’s Communications Section provides emergency and non-emergency police services to the public and supports other departments in the city by providing radio and computer aided communications. The Communications Center is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Communications Section continues to develop the resources necessary to obtain cutting edge technology. This ensures both functionality and reliability. In addition to the technology utilized, dispatchers and emergency call takers receive extensive training that allows rapid dispatches decreasing response times to an emergency.

Chandler is a member of the Arizona Regional Wireless Cooperative, one of the largest public safety radio systems in the country. This state of the art digital radio system provides expanded coverage for officers and greatly enhances the departments ability to communicate with surrounding agencies.

Forensic Services Section

The Chandler Police Department Forensic Services Section is an internationally accredited forensic laboratory accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors / Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB). The Forensic Services Section provides service to our customers to aid in the successful disposition of all investigations in accordance with legal and professional guidelines through the identification, documentation, collection, analysis, and preservation of physical evidence.

The Forensic Services Section is under the direction of the Professional Services Division. It is composed of the Forensic Services Section manager, who is responsible for all work produced by the section. The section manager leads and directs the functions of the Crime Scene Response Unit, the Forensic Analysis Unit, and the section’s administrative staff.

The Crime Scene personnel report directly to a Crime Scene Supervisor. The latent print examiners and criminalists report directly to a Forensic Analysis Unit Supervising Criminalist.

Crime Scene Response Unit

The Crime Scene Response Unit is composed of thirteen employees and is responsible for processing all crime scenes. The unit is comprised of personnel responsible for the photographing, documenting and sketching of crime scenes, as well as recognizing, collecting and preserving all types of physical evidence.

Forensic Analysis Unit

The Forensic Analysis Unit is composed of seven employees and is responsible for analyzing all blood alcohol and drug submissions as well as all latent comparison and latent processing requests.

Support Services Section

The Support Services Section includes the Records Unit and Property & Evidence Unit. The following explains some of job functions of these units.

Records Unit

The Records Unit is responsible for storing, indexing and disseminating records produced by police officers in the course of their duties. All of the reports generated by calls may be accessed through the Records Unit. Additionally, arrest warrants are housed in records for immediate confirmation for officers in the field. Employees in this division enter warrants, missing persons, stolen articles and guns, and stolen and impounded vehicles into state and national law enforcement databases.  The Records Unit is open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Property & Evidence Unit

The main purpose of the Property & Evidence Unit is to maintain any property and evidence that comes under the control of the police department. With that comes the responsibility of storing all the items, making it available for investigative or court purposes, keeping track of it and returning it to the owner as soon as possible. The unit is also responsible for disposal/destruction of items in an authorized manner. Unclaimed bikes are released to non-profit organizations in Chandler as a charity benefit. Any additional unclaimed property is sent to the City of Chandler’s auction vendor Sierra Auction. If you have questions regarding auctions, please contact Sierra Auctions at (602) 242-7121 or visit their website.

Criminal Investigations Bureau

The Criminal Investigations Bureau has sections including Persons, Property and Special Investigations Sections, with individual units corresponding with each section.

Persons Investigations Section

As the title indicates, the Persons Investigations Section involves crimes that relate to people. There following gives a brief overview of those units.

Family Crimes Unit

The Family Crimes Unit investigates any family related crime such as domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, stalking, and runaway juveniles. Detectives in this unit receive special training on how to interview children and stay current on domestic violence issues. They also work hand in hand with the sex crimes unit when dealing with child crimes.

The Family Crimes Unit enables the victims and their families to receive a variety of services.

Sex Crimes Unit

The responsibilities of this unit are to investigate sexually motivated crimes against adults and children. The Sex Crimes Unit is also responsible for the Sex Offender Notification Program that keeps the citizens of Chandler aware of sex offenders residing in their neighborhood. Detectives receive specialized training in areas such as interview and interrogation, crime scene management, injury interpretation and search and seizure. Members of the Sex Crimes Unit work hand-in-hand with the Robbery/Homicide Unit and are cross-trained in the investigation of homicides, robberies, death investigations and aggravated assaults.

Robbery/Homicide Unit

The responsibilities of this unit are to investigate major crimes against persons to include, robbery, homicide, suspicious deaths, domestic violence (repeat offenders) and aggravated assaults. Robbery/Homicide detectives are able to follow leads on a case and use many different resources during their investigations including computer databases, other law enforcement agencies, medical facilities, federal agencies, and voice stress analysis and surveillance.

Property Investigations Section

The Property Investigations Section investigates property related crimes with further detail about the units is outlined below.

Property Crimes Unit

The Property Crimes Unit is responsible for the investigation of crimes against property such as burglary, theft, criminal damage, arson, vehicle theft and environmental crimes. The detectives review police reports generated by patrol officers, help in developing leads in various cases, and conduct surveillance to assist in solving property crimes. The detectives coordinate with other agency detectives in order to identify suspects and to coordinate efforts to apprehend those suspects.

Auto Theft/Repeat Offender Unit

The auto theft unit investigates not only auto thefts that have occurred, but it also looks at crime trends related to this offense. They strive to be proactive in their investigations as to where these crimes are occurring most frequently and the best ways to stop them.

The Repeat Offender Program is designed to enhance sentencing on repeat criminals throughout the state of Arizona. Detectives work closely with other law enforcement agencies and prosecutor throughout the state to identify repeat offender criminals. Once offenders are placed in the repeat offender program, they can receive increased sentencing over non-repeat offenders.

Financial Crimes Unit

The Financial Crimes Unit is divided into fraud investigations and computer forensic investigations.The fraud detectives investigate all types of fraud, forgery, identity theft, high-tech crime, and embezzlement cases. Detectives in this unit provide training for businesses and community groups on identifying white-collar crimes and ways to protect against them.

Computer Crimes Unit

In the computer forensic area, detectives complete forensic computer examinations by utilizing specialized computers and software to examine computers and components in an attempt to identify and seize evidence. The unit is also responsible for investigating Internet-related crimes and illegal pornography on the Internet.

Special Investigations Section

The Special Investigations Section investigates any other type of crime that is not included in person or property crimes. This section includes the following units, Criminal Apprehension, Criminal Intelligence, Crime Prevention, Gang and Narcotics/VICE.

Criminal Apprehension Unit

The Criminal Apprehension Unit (CAU) is responsible for overall support and criminal apprehension functions for detectives of the Criminal Investigations Bureau (CIB) and patrol. The CAU fulfills the department’s commitment to implementing “due diligence,” as required by law, in locating and apprehending wanted persons with outstanding criminal warrants.

Criminal Intelligence Unit

The Criminal Intelligence Unit is responsible for gathering, analyzing and disseminating information on criminal activity and the persons who are responsible for criminal activity. The goal of the unit is to provide information to all officers and detectives that will help them in their endeavors to solve crime. The unit is committed to assist and support all officers of the department with their criminal investigations.

Crime Prevention Unit

The Crime Prevention Unit implements community-policing programs that help to educate citizens about crime and crime prevention techniques in an effort to reduce potential crimes to Chandler residents. Crime prevention officers are specially trained in the field and continually develop and implement crime prevention programs to help make Chandler a safer community to live. Block Watches, Business Watches, District Meetings, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (C.P.T.E.D.) evaluations and the Crime Free Multi-Housing program are all programs utilized by the Chandler Police Department. The Crime Prevention Unit uses these programs to form partnerships with the community to help the police department solve problems. This approach recognizes the community as a valuable part problem solving team.

Gang Unit

The Gang Unit uses a four-tiered approach to dealing with gangs which include Intelligence, Enforcement and Suppression, Prevention and Education and Community Partnerships. The first tier deals with gathering intelligence information on gang members and their associates. The second tier actively enforces any criminal violations committed by gang members and associate members and suppressing the illegal activity. The Prevention and Education component incorporates the Gang Unit be providing educational classes to community organizations, groups, citizens, and schools. The fourth level focuses on the social services aspect where the Chandler Police Department builds partnerships with community organizations that provide, fund, and support prevention and education programs available to our youth.

Narcotics/Vice Unit

The Narcotics/Vice Unit investigates crimes involving dangerous drugs, illegal narcotics and marijuana distribution and usage and all related intelligence.

• Anonymous Tips Line: 480-782-4440
• Potential Drug Activity: 480-782-4450

Planning & Research Section

The Planning and Research Section is responsible for several functions divided among the Planning & Research Unit and the Crime Analysis & Research Unit. These functions provide administrative, strategic and tactical information essential to the accomplishment of the department’s mission.

The Planning and Research function covers workload studies throughout the department, response time analysis, and the evaluation of new technology and procedures in law enforcement. The department’s strategic plan and other future needs are also researched and prepared. The unit additionally serves as a liaison with area law enforcement agencies to coordinate regional planning and in the development of intergovernmental agreements. The fiscal administration within the unit involves the preparation and monitoring of the annual budget and reviews all departmental purchases. Other financial responsibilities include Capital Improvement Programs for all future facilities, processing of forfeiture funds, and grant administration for preparation, coordination and maintenance of federal, state and other grants. The Crime Analysis function provides criminal activity analysis reports and studies to assist in identifying crime trends, methods, and probabilities. This unit also prepares the coding and classification of Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) for the state and national levels.

Technology Section

The Technology Section provides information technology support to the Chandler Police Department. This section’s responsibilities include maintaining a stable electronic work environment in coordination with the City of Chandler. The Technology Section collaborates to provide users with standardized tools and resources, support for efficient and effective system maintenance, standardized training and implementation and a strong foundation to maintain a technical architecture system.