Office of the Chief of Police

In addition to Chief Chuck McMillan, the Office of the Chief of Police is home to a police sergeant who serves as the Chief's Adjutant, along with the Chief's secretary.

The Chief's secretary and adjutant are points of contact for the community to the Chief and his office. They assist the Chief by responding to many of the inquiries and requests that he receives. The Chief's adjutant also serves as the Department's Public Information Officer handling interviews, press releases, and other communication with the news media.

The Office of the Chief of Police is responsible for overseeing the total operation of the police department and carrying out the policy and direction of the City Manager and the City Council. Some of the primary functions are recruitment, training, hiring of employees, managing budget items, conducting internal reviews, and acting as a liaison with citizens and other agencies in the criminal justice system.

The Investigative Division

The Investigative Division is compiled of two separate units. The Special Investigations Unit that focuses on gang and narcotic activity and the General Investigations Unit that investigates all other felony crimes within the city. The Investigative Division is overseen by a Division Commander and Supervised by a Sergeant in each of the two units. There are four full-time investigators in the Special Investigations Unit and five in the General Investigations Unit, one of which is assigned to a specialized, county-wide auto-theft task force. The General Investigations Unit is also supplemented by two part-time cold-case investigators and one full-time check-fraud investigator.

The Investigative Division encourages our citizens to look at our most wanted section. Any information provided by citizens will be confidential and remain anonymous. All information will be greatly appreciated; you can give tips by calling the General Investigations Supervisor at (559) 782-7421.

The Patrol Division

The Patrol Division is the largest of the divisions and has the greatest number of personnel assigned to it. Besides patrol officers, the Division contains the K-9 Officers, School Resource Officers, Traffic Unit and Neighborhood Crime Suppression. The Patrol Division is the most visible division and consists of the officers seen in police cars. The Traffic Unit consists of motorcycle traffic officers and a DUI enforcement officer. The K-9 Unit consists of dog/handler teams assigned to specific shifts. The Neighborhood Crime Suppression Unit is comprised of officers who target special areas of concern throughout the community.

Patrol officers are assigned geographical areas known as sectors. The city is broken down into 4 sectors to allow sufficient coverage 24 hours a day. This assignment is for an entire deployment period which allows the officer to become familiar with addresses and community problems.

The Patrol Division also supports a 10-person SWAT team. This very active, part-time team responds to a variety of incidents, such as barricaded suspects and hostage situations, as well as deploying for high-risk search warrants. The team consists of a team leader, an assistant team leader, and eight operators. A team commander oversees the unit. The team trains monthly, at various locations in the community, as well as at the department's range facility. Training is realistic and often involves role players. The team is fully equipped with the latest safety gear and weaponry. Participation on the team is physically and mentally challenging and all the team members are continually evaluated for their ability to meet those challenges.

The Services Division

The Records Division is responsible for the custodianship of all departmental records. Incident reports, accident reports, citations, arrest booking reports, are all stored in the Records Division. In addition to maintaining the department's records, this division provides other service to the community such as fingerprinting, and report copying, and crime statistics.

You may contact the Records Division of the police department by calling (559) 782-7428

Emergency: 9-1-1
Non-Emergency: (559)782-7400

The Porterville Police Communications Center operates 24-hours a day, 365-days a year. All 9-1-1 calls made within the city are received at the Communications Center. Police dispatchers are responsible for dispatching police, fire, paramedics, and other community service units such as animal control.

Police dispatchers are professionally trained to handle a wide range of public safety emergencies. New dispatchers receive 300 to 400 hours of in-house training. In addition, they are certified by the State of California after completing 120 hours of Peace Officer Standard Training within the first year of their employment.

After hours, the police station is locked, but a phone located in front of the station allows communications with the dispatcher on duty. Dispatchers can allow entry into the building when appropriate.