Patrol Division
The backbone of the police department, the Patrol Division is our force that patrols and responds to calls for service. Mostly uniformed, but sometimes in plainclothes, the Patrol Division works to deter crime, respond to crimes in progress, provide service and community care-taking functions, perform initial investigations, regulate traffic, investigate motor vehicle crashes, and assist EMS at medical calls. The Patrol Division is our front line force for enforcing criminal and traffic laws and local ordinances. This Division also operates the police department's dispatch center and 911 call-taking functions.
Traffic Bureau
The Traffic Bureau oversees and approves reports of all traffic accident investigations. They conduct fatal and serious accident investigations in conjunction with the county's regional team. Preliminary industrial accident investigations are also within their purview. Traffic personnel coordinate with contractors and engineers to ensure work zone safety at construction projects that impact the public right of way.
Kearny's corps. of crossing guards report to the Traffic Bureau as do the Town's parking violations officers. Traffic officers have administrative responsibility for the issuance of handicapped parking placards and taxi and other licenses. They coordinate major processions such as parades, religious processions, and large funeral escorts.
The Bureau oversees the Department's Alcotest machines and traffic radar program. They administer traffic-related grants as they become available. Officers also address specific traffic-related complaints and maintain the Department's mobile radar and sign boards.
Community-Oriented Policing Unit (COP)
While community policing is a department-wide philosophy, the COP Unit spearheads this effort and takes charge of community-building events and initiatives. COP teaches the anti-drug LEAD Program in Town elementary schools. They staff Kearny High School with a full-time School Resource Officer and participate in Project Graduation.
In the summer, the COP Unit visits parks and other youth hangouts as part of their bicycle patrols. They plan August's National Night Out celebration and run the Department's acclaimed Junior Police Academy. The Department's Vacant House Check Program is also administered by the COP Unit.
COP officers appear at ad hoc community speaking engagements presenting on myriad educational topics. The COP supervisor represents the Department to the Town's Municipal Alliance Committee. In their spare time, COP officers supplement the Patrol Division and perform problem-oriented policing patrols.
Motorcycle Unit
Assignment to the Motorcycle Unit is currently on a part-time basis. Motorcycle-qualified officers ride for ceremonial events such as parades, funerals, processions, and other crowd events.
Record Bureau
The Record Bureau, staffed by police officers and civilian clerk typists, catalogs, stores, and disseminates all police and accident reports for the Department. They coordinate with the prosecutor's office to ensure that attorneys and defendants receive the records they need to adjudicate cases and fulfill discovery demands.
The bureau responds to OPRA requests via the Town Clerk's Office and addresses walk-in requests for reports and impounded vehicle releases daily. Members ensure that crimes are properly documented for statistical purposes and compile and report on Uniform Crime Report Statistics.
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The supervisor of the Record Bureau acts as the Department's Terminal Agency Coordinator (TAC) Officer. He ensures compliance with rules governing state and federal databases such as the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), performs record validations in those systems to ensure that information in NCIC is accurate and timely, and coordinates the auditing of NCIC records by regulatory agencies. The TAC Officer has staff authority over police dispatchers and administers their training.
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Finally, the Record Bureau supervisor oversees the prisoner cell block and its maintenance. He is responsible for seeing that the cell block passes regular site inspections by the State Department of Corrections.
Planning, Training, & Office of Emergency Management
The Office of Planning, Training, and Emergency Management is responsible for planning for the infrastructure needs of the Department, maintaining the policy management system, overseeing in-house training and coordinating external training. The office oversees the Field Training Officer program for new officers. They coordinate workman's compensation follow-up for workplace injuries and exposures.
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The Office of Emergency Management is staffed out of this office. They develop and update the Town's emergency operations plans, mitigate potential large hazards, and respond to disasters to coordinate the provision of assets to assist first responders. The unit coordinates with FEMA, County and State OEM, and the American Red Cross maintaining professional relationships with contacts in those organizations who assist during disasters or states of emergency.
The office coordinates FEMA reimbursement for Town resources deployed during states of emergency. OEM also maintains the fleet of police boats, portable light towers, trailers, off-road vehicles, and the mobile command unit. They sit on multi-agency committees such as the County Law Enforcement Working Group and the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI).
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The Department's Counterterrorism Coordinators work through this office to disseminate terrorism-related intelligence within the organization and to external partners, such as the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security & Preparedness and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. Coordinators evaluate police reports for upload into the State's Suspicious Activities Reporting System. They conduct outreach to high-risk locations in the business, non-profit, and government sectors and consult on target-hardening procedures. Coordinators distribute homeland security-related training bulletins to police officers and coordinate with the County Counterterrorism Coordinator and Regional Operations Intelligence Center to ensure that officers are kept abreast of emerging homeland security issues.
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Emergency Services Unit
The Emergency Services Unit (ESU) is the Department's special weapons and tactics team. Members are trained in advanced shooting skills, special weapons and devices, and close-quarters battle tactics. The team also includes an FBI-trained sniper component and tactical medic. Members serve part-time in this assignment in addition to their full-time police duties. However, ESU members are assigned their heavy weapons full-time so they may respond quickly to any active shooter threat or dangerous situation.
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The department also lends officers to the Hudson County Regional SWAT Team. This team, made up of officers from the various municipal and county police agencies, is the primary SWAT team for the county.
Honor Guard
The Honor Guard is an all-volunteer part-time squad of officers who specialize in drill and ceremony. The Honor Guard has had the privilege of performing at ceremonies, parades, veterans' events, funerals, professional sports games, and at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Detective Bureau
The general Detective Bureau has responsibility for conducting follow-up and complex investigations involving crimes against persons and property. They conduct joint investigations with other law enforcement agencies, specialized units, and task forces. The Detective Bureau also conducts plainclothes anti-crime operations to address pattern crimes.
Juvenile Aid Bureau (JAB)
State policy mandates that all police departments have a designated juvenile officer for the investigation and adjudication of juvenile complaints. This function is performed by the Juvenile Aid Bureau detectives. The Juvenile Aid Bureau investigates all matters where a juvenile is the criminal suspect.
Detectives perform follow-up investigations regarding schools and students as well as other sensitive matters involving children. They are the main point of contact with the State's Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCPP).
JAB detectives file juvenile criminal complaints and work closely with the juvenile unit of the county prosecutor's office. More often than not, JAB detectives oversee diversion of juvenile offenders, fulfilling the preference of the State for diversion and rehabilitation rather than incarceration of juvenile offenders. As such, the JAB also administers "stationhouse adjustments" and coordinates the Juvenile Conference Committee, a citizen group that issues non-incarcerative punishments to discourage re-offense without exposing juveniles to the correctional system.
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Many times a JAB detective is called upon to counsel parents and children on juvenile-family crisis situations and parenting concerns without initiating formal judicial process.
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Street Crimes Unit
The Street Crimes Unit is the Department's plainclothes and undercover detective unit for addressing street crime, narcotic and vice offenses. The unit conducts proactive investigations to identify violators, cultivate informants, and build cases for successful prosecution. The Vice Unit is instrumental in identifying and deterring recidivist criminals from preying on local residents and businesses.
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The Street Crimes Unit also functions as the Town's Alcoholic Beverage Control Investigation and Enforcement Unit. As such, they investigate applicants for liquor licenses, inspect licensed establishments, and enforce violations of ABC laws.
Information Technology Unit
The I.T. Unit is staffed by a detective who tackles a wide variety of technology-related issues. The I.T. detective responds to crime scenes to download surveillance videos from area camera systems and assist in recovering electronic evidence. He also administers the system of Town cameras located near parks, public buildings, and select intersections.
The I.T. detective is the system administrator for numerous Departmental technology matters, such as the computer-aided dispatch and records management system, automatic license plate readers, mobile data computers, and telephone and 911 system. He also oversees the department computers and email system and coordinates with external vendors regarding the maintenance of many systems.
Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI)
BCI detectives are responsible for all tasks associated with identifications. They oversee the Department's fingerprinting records and maintain a liaison between the KPD and the State's Automated Fingerprint Identification System and Livescan computers. They also process all local requests for firearms identification cards and permits to purchase handguns, performing the mandatory background checks for those investigations.
BCI detectives function as KPD's Megan's Law detectives, ensuring the periodic registration of convicted sex offenders and conducting community notifications as per current law. Finally, BCI detectives are the Department's main crime scene investigators and respond to the scenes of major crimes to process them for evidence.
Chief's Office
The Chief's Office staff is responsible for many administrative functions within the Department. The Chief's Office coordinates regular and side job staffing, purchasing, payroll, attendance, human resource issues, supplies, and budgeting. The Chief's Office coordinates subpoena compliance for officers called upon to testify in court. They perform special functions and projects as directed by the chief. The staff also acts as the chief's executive assistants.
Internal Affairs Unit
State policy mandates that every police department have a designated Internal Affairs function. The KPD staffs a full-time unit responsible for the intake, investigation, and adjudication of complaints against police personnel. IA supervisory detectives are specifically trained in this investigative sub-field in accordance with the attorney general's directive. IA personnel also oversee use-of-force and vehicular pursuit reporting, maintain and field requests for dispatch telephone recordings, and respond to OPRA requests received by the Town Clerk's Office.
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The Internal Affairs Unit is responsible for the police department's random, reasonable suspicion, and pre-employment drug testing program. They also perform pre-employment background checks on applicants for police officer positions and coordinate the pre-employment process in conjuction with the Town Personnel Office. Unit personnel have the authority to perform inspections and ensure that officers are in compliance with sick leave policies.
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The IA Unit works closely with the county prosecutor's IA Unit so that potential criminal violations are fully investigated as per State policy. The Unit reports statistically to the chief of police and to the county prosecutor on quarterly and annual bases. IAU also works closely with town attorneys so that personnel matters are handled in accordance with best practices in administrative and employment law.
Evidence Unit
The Evidence Unit accepts, catalogs, safeguards and then disposes of evidence, found property, and prisoner property in accordance with established retention regulations. They conduct follow-up inquiries to identify and notify the owners of seized property. Unit officers administer the BEAST Evidence System, a state-of-the-art evidence tracking and management system that allows for a seamless chain of evidence custody between the KPD, State Police laboratories, and the Regional Medical Examiner's Office.
Unit personnel coordinate with laboratories to ensure that evidence is properly processed to support investigations and prosecutions. Members transport evidence for follow-up analysis. The Evidence Unit is responsible for maintaining the Department's inventory of evidence collection materials.