PATROL

The Mt. Vernon Police Department Patrol Division is the largest division in the department and consists of about twenty-six sworn officers.  All new officers at the police department start out as patrol officers before they are allowed to branch out and work in the other divisions of the department.

The Patrol Division operates twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred sixty-five days a year. Patrol Officers are the first responders to every call for service the City of Mt. Vernon receives through the police dispatching center.

The division is broken down into two twelve-hour work shifts.  There are 4 squads with officers assigned to work either day shift or night shift.  Days off rotate weekly with one quad assigned to work each shift while the other squad is off duty.  Every patrol squad has two supervisors assigned to it, one Sergeant and one Corporal.  There is one Captain in overall command of each patrol shift.

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There are two K9's assigned to patrol.

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The patrol division is considered the backbone of the police department and they are the most visible of all of the police departments divisions.  They are responsible for patrolling the City of Mt. Vernon, handling all calls for service, and handling the initial investigation into any crime reported to the department.  Each year the patrol division handles about 30,000 incidents ranging from traffic stops and calls for service to criminal investigations.