Patrol shift officers form the backbone of the agency and have the most contact with the public. Officers assigned to Patrol are responsible for responding to calls for service from Owensboro residents and businesses as well as conducting preliminary investigations of crimes.
The patrol officer’s duties encompass a broad range of responsibilities including preventive patrols of neighborhoods and businesses, interaction with the public to foster better community relations, answering calls for service, compiling incident reports, assisting persons in need, providing assistance to investigative personnel, and taking enforcement action in matters related to their assignment. They document their work on various reports and work closely with detectives, who investigate primarily felony crimes. Patrol officers make the majority of arrests for the agency.
Patrol officers are assigned to specific patrol sectors, so they can watch for ongoing problems and issues. Each officer works hard to get to know the residents, business people and issues in his or her patrol sector.
On April 01, 1999, the OPD Patrol instituted a new sector plan for providing patrol services to the 18.5 square miles of Owensboro. Previously, patrol areas were divided by beat boundaries. In order to better affix geographical responsibilities, Owensboro was divided into sectors (See City Sector Map). These areas were defined by establishing, as closely as possible, boundaries in which the need for services would be evenly distributed and to enable officers to familiarize themselves with the problems associated with their districts and the adjacent areas of concern. Patrol boundary evaluation is a continuous process and boundaries may be changed as the demand for services shift from one sector to another.