The River Bend Police Department provides 24-hour coverage, seven days a week, to provide timely response to emergency calls and proactive policing designed to keep our community safe.
Our relatively small staff provides the same level of service as larger departments including traffic enforcement, criminal investigations, bike patrol, and town ordinance enforcement. We also take part in joint enforcement efforts with other agencies in our area by participating in the Coastal Narcotics Enforcement Team, the Eastern NC Joint Gang Task Force and the Governor’s Highway Safety Program DWI Task Force.
PATROL
Patrol Officers serve as the front line to the community. Answering 911 calls, routine calls for service, traffic enforcement, community policing, and many other tasks. These officers work hard to keep our community safe by providing excellent customer service to the citizens of River Bend. Many of these officers have other functions within the department, as well as their patrol functions. (E.G. - North Carolina Governor’s Highway Safety Program Coordinator, Gang Intelligence Officer, and Narcotics Investigator.) We offer 24-hour protection, 365 days a year, and most times we have two officers on duty to ensure adequate coverage.
INVESTIGATIONS
Under the direction of Sergeant Whitley, all of our officers are responsible for the investigation of criminal violations that occur within the Town of River Bend. Our officers investigate crimes that involve both juvenile and adult victims/offenders. Those particular officers trained in specialized criminal investigations investigate crimes such as murder, assault, burglary, fraud, as well as a host of other offenses.
TRAFFIC
Officers with specialized training in traffic enforcement not only address traffic related concerns throughout the town, but also effectively used in conjunction with other policing efforts address ongoing crime trends and concerns in specific areas of River Bend. Strict enforcement is used in correlation with positive community contacts, such as traffic safety presentations, to help reduce the number of deaths, injuries, and crashes, as well as the occurrences of serious traffic offenses occurring within the jurisdiction.
The officer(s) assigned to these additional duties are responsible for handling the majority of the traffic crashes and other traffic related concerns that occur within the Town of River Bend. The officers assigned to this unit are specially trained in the advanced investigation and reconstruction of major traffic crashes (those resulting in fatal or serious injuries likely to result in death) and they use these skills on nearly all major traffic crashes that happen in town.
In addition to their advanced crash investigation skills, the officers assigned to Traffic have advanced training in the many different traffic enforcement and traffic investigation areas that include:
Radar
Detection of Impaired Drivers and Field Sobriety Testing
Highway Drug Interdiction
The Traffic section bases its focus on the "3 E’s": Education, Enforcement, and Engineering. Traffic officers are available to educate citizens on proper seat belt and child safety seat installation, and to review or explain North Carolina traffic laws at community watch meetings or other public gatherings. National traffic research has shown the two main causes of crashes to be speed and inattentiveness. To reduce crashes, the Traffic section focuses enforcement efforts in areas of frequent crashes and traffic related complaints of speeding and unsafe driving.
BIKE PATROL
Bike Patrol strengthens our Community Policing Program as well as provides additional officer presence in specific locations and establish a unique way to interact with the community.
Officers can been seen utilizing the Bike Patrol during special events such as:
Special Event Runs/Walks
4th of July and Halloween Celebrations/Festivals
Park and Residential Patrols
Our Bike Patrol Units have been equipped with the most up-to-date equipment and warning lights/sirens, while the unit's patrol officers are qualified to safely operate and patrol on these bikes.
We are glad you took the time to learn more about the River Bend Police Department. If you would like more information stop by the office or call the officer on duty at 252-638-1108.
