Detectives

The Detective Unit is responsible for criminal investigations, which includes a position with the Rogue Area Drug Enforcement (RADE) Team, an inter-agency drug enforcement team.

Responsibility

Detectives are responsible for ongoing investigations that require specialized training, multiple witness and/or victim interviews, and interaction with multiple agencies. While all uniformed police officers conduct complete investigations as often as possible, many cases must be forwarded to detectives due to their complexity or severity.

Cases that meet the following criteria, that involve extensive follow-up, that may involve people living outside the city limits, or that may require special training such as child abuse and homicides are investigated by detectives. Detectives typically carry 20 or more cases at any given time.

Case Assignment Criteria

The Detective Sergeant is responsible for reviewing all cases referred to the Detectives for assignment. Considerations for assignment include:

• The seriousness of the crime
• Is there a named suspect
• Can the suspect be identified
• Can the suspect be located
• Can the suspect vehicle be identified
• Is there physical evidence present
• Are there witnesses

Generally, the types of cases that meet the criteria include robberies, homicides, sex crimes, child abuse, fraud, burglary, assaults, theft, missing persons, and other felonies. After hours, the on-call detective responds to serious crimes needing immediate attention.

Interagency Agreements

The Grants Pass Police Department also has an interagency agreement with the Josephine County Sheriff's Office, the Josephine County District Attorney's Office, and the Oregon State Police establishing a major crimes response team. The team can be called out during any major crimes incident when due to the extensive or serious nature of the crime additional resources are needed, such as homicide, arson, kidnapping, assault, officer-involved shootings, etc.

The detectives assigned to the unit participate in several interagency activities including, but not limited to:

• RADE - Three detectives are assigned to the unit that investigates narcotics-related crimes occurring in Grants Pass and Josephine County.
• Missing People - Officers take missing people cases frequently. Most of these cases are resolved within a few hours to a few days. At times, people go missing for years at a time. These cases can be very difficult to solve. The Detectives utilize volunteers who are retired Detectives from other jurisdictions to help investigate each missing person case. These "Cold Case Detectives" review each case periodically and follow up on tips provided by the public.
• Child Abuse Multidisciplinary Team - Detectives participate as part of a team that attends weekly meetings at the Child Advocacy and Treatment Center to present and discuss child abuse crimes occurring in Grants Pass and Josephine County.