Police Department
Investigations The police department's investigation division is divided into three separated but equally important specialized sections, the General Assignment, Crime Scene and Vice. All three units consist of highly trained, well-educated, highly motivated individuals who achieve grate satisfaction from investigating, apprehending and incarcerating criminals. General Assignment The Investigation section is responsible for the follow up investigations into all major crimes that occur within the jurisdiction of the City of Riviera Beach. This includes both crimes against property and crimes against persons. The crimes against property sometimes range from burglaries, petit thefts to frauds and extortion. Crimes against persons sometimes range from simple assaults to first-degree homicides. All of the Investigators assigned to this section are dedicated to the protection of children, adults, the elderly and the property of the citizens of the city. The Investigators routinely work closely with the Crime Scene Detectives along with other Investigators from local, state and federal agencies. Once an Investigator is assigned to a case it his/her responsibility to achieve a successful conclusion by exploring all avenues at his/her disposal. The Investigator is responsible for interviewing the victim when possible, interviewing and interrogating the suspect, interviewing witnesses, tracing property and examining evidence. It is also the responsibility of the Investigator to document all of the facts and activity of the case through reports along with affidavits and present them to his/her supervisor for review and to the state Attorney's Office when applicable. Currently the division has one investigator assigned to the Palm Beach County Multi Agency Auto Theft Task Force, which is compiled of several Police Officers from different Departments from all over the county. The task force is coordinated through the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and some of their responsibilities are to investigate chop shops, conduct salvage yard inspections and to investigate heavy equipment and cargo thefts. They work very closely with the public providing education on how to prevent auto theft by VIN etching and many other theft deterring methods. The task force has been extremely successful in recovering stolen vehicles and the arrest of suspects. Crime Scene The crime scene unit is composed of two detectives specially trained in the collection, preservation and documentation of evidence. The two are specially trained in several different methods of processing and lifting latent fingerprints left behind at a crime scene. They also specialize in photography, videotaping, blood spatter patterns, examinations of firearms, projectiles, shell casings and many other forms of evidence left behind by suspects. The two investigators work extremely close with the members of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Crime Lab and many other local, state and federal agencies. Vice The Vice Unit agents identify, investigate and infiltrate street level to mid-level narcotics dealers and their organizations within the City of Rivera Beach. The narcotics agents work closely with other units within the Investigations Bureau as well as local, state and federal authorities. The Vice Unit's areas of responsibility include the investigation of prostitution, lewd activity, targeting drug addicts and regulation of alcoholic beverage laws. Additional investigations conducted by the Vice Unit include the sale of drug paraphernalia and bootleg videotapes. During investigations of alcoholic beverage laws, the sale of alcoholic beverage to minors is regulated. The Vice Unit works closely with other local, state and federal agencies to monitor illegal activity. Information is gathered daily from citizens of Riviera Beach, which aids in all investigations. The Vice Unit has proven to be very successful in the deterrent of drug abusers attempting to purchase narcotics in the City of Riviera Beach by conducting routine drug reverses, where the abusers are arrested and their vehicles are seized for forfeiture. This becomes very costly for the drug abusers and deters them from entering the city to purchase their drug of choice. |
