The Buena Park Police Department has 3 divisions; Operations, Support and Administrative. The Department continues to have a very positive reputation and prides itself on being one of the finest departments in Orange County and in the state of California. The Department is very selective in hiring the highest quality of both sworn and civilian personnel. Our men and women are very loyal, dedicated and committed to not only the department, but to the community they serve as well. They take a lot of pride in what they do and we are very proud of each and every one of them. The Operations division is comprised of 92 full-time and 35 part-time employees. These are the most visible members of our Police Department. They serve the public 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and are usually what are referred to as the “first responders.” The first responders are the backbone of any police department, and are the most visible. They are the significant point of contact with our community. Whether it is an emergency call for service, a traffic collision or just a member of the public coming into the Police Department for information or assistance, it is someone from the Operations Division that will most likely be the first person they encounter.
The Operations Division consists of the Patrol and Traffic Bureaus. Included in these Bureaus are the Communications Unit, Problem-Oriented Policing Team, Jail, Canine Unit, Mounted Patrol Unit, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team, Reserve Police Officer Unit, School Resource Officer Program, Police Service Officers, Police Service Aide, Chaplain Program and the Bicycle Team. The Reserve Unit has 11 Reserve Police Officers and 6 Chaplains who, combined, volunteered over 6,000 hours to the community during 2009.
During 2009, the Patrol Bureau worked extremely hard to maintain the highest quality of service to our community. They handled 37,306 calls for service, which is a slight decrease from the 37,918 calls for service handled in 2008. The response times for Operations Division for the year 2009 continue to be outstanding. They continue to be some of the lowest response time in the counties. They are as follows:
Emergency Calls: 3 minutes, 8 seconds
Urgent Calls: 8 minutes, 50 seconds
Routine Calls: 10 minutes, 57 seconds
As in the past several years, Operations Division personnel work very hard to deter criminal behavior. They very often stop criminal behavior before it even occurs. Even though the calls for service increased slightly during the year, this proactive type of police enforcement was partially responsible for 3,684 arrests for the year.
In 2009 our Problem Oriented Policing Unit was also very productive, working with the Neighborhood Improvement Task Force. This TEAM continues to have a significant impact on the reduction of blight and crime in our community. They deal with the root causes to problems in residential and commercial neighborhoods throughout our community.
The Operations Division continues to provide the most highly trained and well-equipped professionals who effectively handle all requests for service to our community. The effectiveness of these first responders and their support staff are greatly enhanced by state-of-the-art equipment that they are provided to assist them in getting the job done. Because of our high-quality personnel, we are able to provide competent, effective and caring service to our community. Should a member of our community need assistance, we either handle it ourselves or find someone who can.
Email the Operations Division.