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The
Lauderhill Police Department offers several specialized
assignments for the officer who chooses a specialized career path. With
these specialized functions comes increased knowledge and expertise in
the chosen field, enabling the officer to benefit both intrinsically as
well as professionally. For the Department and the City, the benefits
are seen in the very proficient and professional manner that these
specialized functions carry out their assigned tasks.
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS:
The Department’s Criminal Investigations Division is commanded by
Lt. Rick Rocco. The Division is divided into two units, which are led by two
Sergeants. The CID
contains 13 criminal investigations detectives as well as two Crime
Scene Investigators. Each member of the CID has areas that they
specialize in and are responsible for following up and case preparation
on all serious crimes that occur in Lauderhill.
SPECIAL PROGRAMS UNIT:
The Special Programs Unit is commanded by Sergeant Margaret Carswell and
is currently staffed with three full-time Youth Services Officers. The
Unit’s strength is augmented by officers from other areas of the
Department when specialized functions take place. The SPU has been quite
successful with the
Police Impact Program,
a program devised to help at-risk youths stay on the right side of the
law before they get into trouble. The PIP has proven to be a very
popular program with many Lauderhill families.
CANINE HANDLER:
The Department currently has two K9 units, both are Belgian Malinois,
each are multidisciplinary. The K9 handlers are Officer Ronald Torres
and Officer Troy Levy.
FEDERAL DETACHMENTS:
The Department detaches officers for multi-year assignments to work
with various specialized Federal law enforcement functions. These
positions provide Lauderhill with the opportunity to participate in
high-level criminal investigations that ultimately help reduce
lower-level criminal activity in Lauderhill.
ROAD PATROL:
The Department’s Road Patrol Division is the heart and soul of the
Department, comprising of over 52 officers and 8 sergeants. Road Patrol is responsible for handling the day-to-day calls for service
that take place in Lauderhill. In addition to responding to calls, Road
Patrol officers proactively patrol the neighborhoods and business plazas
for potential problems in order to assure the safest city possible.

TRAFFIC UNIT:
The Department’s Traffic Unit is comprised of both Police Officers and
Police Service Aides and supervised by a Sergeant. Officers are
assigned to both motorcycle and vehicle patrol to perform their assigned
duties. Motor Officers ride the Harley Davidson FLHP-I motor units and
Traffic Enforcement is conducted using semi-marked and marked Crown
Victoria Police Interceptor sedans. The unit is responsible for
investigating all serious injury and fatal traffic crashes, conducting
D.U.I. and Aggressive Driving Enforcement, educating the community in
traffic safety and the overall enforcement of Florida’s Traffic Laws.
The Unit is broken down into four functional areas:
Traffic Enforcement:
The Lauderhill Police Department is committed to making the streets and
highways of our city safe for residents, businesses and visitors alike.
To ensure the safety of the traveling public is one of the tasks assigned to
the Traffic Unit. The goal of traffic enforcement is to minimize
pedestrian and vehicular crashes and fatalities through uniform, consistent
and aggressive enforcement.
All enforcement actions are completed in a fair, firm, impartial and
courteous manner through the issuance of warnings, citations, and/or
physical arrest.
The objective of traffic enforcement is two fold, both immediate and long
term. The immediate objective is to take enforcement action when a
violation is observed. The long term objective is to favorably change
the violator’s future driving behavior.
The Traffic Unit is focused on addressing the following:
1. Address
complaints and concerns with regard to traffic laws and violations.
2.Reduce the number of traffic crashes and fatalities caused by speeding,
aggressive driving, child seat violations and red light running.
3.Monitor intersections where crashes frequently occur.
4.Conduct selective traffic enforcement in areas identified through crash
analysis and citizen complaints.
5.Be highly visible to the motoring public with regard to traffic
enforcement.
D.U.I./Aggressive Driving Enforcement:
One of the biggest problems faced by the motoring public is drivers that are
impaired by either alcohol and/or narcotics. Officers are assigned on
a part-time basis to the county-wide D.U.I. Task Force and are responsible
to detect and apprehend drivers under the influence. After the arrest is made the violator is
transported to a D.U.I. testing facility where they are processed and then
booked into the county jail. Drivers that are observed operating in an
aggressive manner are stopped and cited immediately. The Uniform
Traffic Citation that is issued for the violation is marked “Aggressive
Driving” which will enhance the penalties and may lead to a possible
suspension of the operator’s privilege to drive a motor vehicle.
Traffic Investigations:
Traffic Unit members are responsible for investigating all serious injury
and fatal crashes in the City as well as addressing the various speed and
safety related issues that come from the high volumes of traffic that passes
along Lauderhill’s roadways daily.
Officers assigned to the Traffic Unit receive specialized advanced training
in Traffic Homicide Investigation and Crash Reconstruction. These
officers investigate all fatal crashes, crashes involving City owned
vehicles and conduct follow up investigation on Hit and Run reports.
Officers also receive training and utilize “State of the Art” laser mapping
and CAD drawing programs. The Traffic Unit is out on a daily basis, during
the peak hours of traffic crashes, with a full-time emphasis on education,
enforcement and prevention.
Police Service Aides:
Integral to the function of the Traffic Unit are the unit’s Police Service
Aides (PSA). Tasked with providing support to the Road Patrol officers as
well as the Traffic Unit officers, the functions performed by the PSA are
both varied and essential. Among the duties of the PSA, they may be assigned
to take non-emergency calls for service and investigate minor traffic
crashes throughout the City. PSAs participate in traffic and crowd
control duties at City events and assist the Traffic Officers on scenes of
major traffic crashes.






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