City of Tampa Police Department

The Tampa Police Department is responsible for ensuring the protection, safety, and welfare of city residents and visitors; providing protection of property; and preventing crime. To accomplish these goals, the Tampa Police Department is organized as follows:

The Headquarters Division oversees the operations of the Uniform Services and Criminal Investigations/Administrative Divisions and is responsible for department-wide fiscal, planning, and training functions. In addition, the Internal Affairs Bureau reports directly to this Division regarding investigations of misconduct by department employees.

Uniform Services consists of Uniform Districts I, II, III and the Special Operations Group.

The Uniform Districts primary role is to respond to calls from citizens for police service and act to deter crime and apprehend criminals.

The Special Operations Group is comprised of several units that perform specific law enforcement functions or provide support to the other divisions. These activities include providing traffic enforcement; special events planning and traffic/crowd control; patrolling City parks; providing school resource programs; and enforcing state/local environmental laws and ordinances.

Criminal Investigations/Administration consists of the Criminal Investigations and Administration Divisions.

The Criminal Investigations Division is comprised of Narcotics Bureau and the Major Crimes Bureau. The Major Crimes Bureau is responsible for investigating all crimes of a violent nature and such crimes as burglaries, auto theft and fraud as well as enforcing the city’s pawn broker laws. The Narcotics Bureau main responsibility is the enforcement of federal, state and local drug laws. Also, this bureau oversees the Marine/Air Patrol unit whose tasks include rescue, salvage, body recovery, dive operations and deterrent patrol and surveillance.

The Administrative Division consists of the Support Services Bureau and the Administrative Bureau. The Administrative Bureau is responsible for recruiting and hiring of all new personnel and administration of the Department’s community affairs programs. The Support Services Bureau maintains police reports, criminal arrest records; evidence and property records; and provides identification forensic expertise, and logistical support for the Department’s computer environment and storage facilities.

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