About Charleston Police Department

The Charleston Police Department currently employs 382 sworn police officers, 137 civilians and 27 reserve police officers.  The Charleston Police Department is organized into five geographic “patrol teams;” a traffic team; special units team; and, a detective division.  Patrol Team Six, referred to as Special Units, provides support services for all of the City of Charleston.  This Team consists of the Mounted Patrol, K-9 Unit, Housing Liaison, and Harbor Patrol, as well as managing the Special Activated Units including SWAT, Explosive Devices Unit, Underwater Recovery Unit (Dive Team), Crisis Negotiation Unit, PERU (Environmental Response) Team, Civil Disturbance Unit, Aviation Unit, Honor Guard, and Pipes & Drums.

Patrol Team Seven consists of the Traffic Division, Parking Enforcement Unit, and Safety Service. This team handles all traffic enforcement throughout the City with the ultimate goal of accident reduction and pedestrian safety. The Detective Division, under the Investigations Bureau, consists of Central Investigations Detectives (Crimes Against Persons, Burglary, Auto-Theft, Domestic Violence, Computer Crimes Unit, Juvenile Unit), Narcotics Division. Detectives from this division also include the Crime Stoppers representative, Career Criminal Tracking and Intelligence Unit, Crime Analysis Unit, as well as officers assigned to liaison with Federal agencies including the FBI, DEA, ATF, Project Seahawk, and US Marshals.