The Riverside Police Department is the local law enforcement agency for the city of Riverside, California. It is headquartered at 4102 Orange St, Riverside, CA 92501 and has another station at 10540 Magnolia Av, Riverside, CA 92505. The RPD website can be found at riversideca.gov/rpd/. The mission statement of the RPD is:
“The Riverside Police Department is committed to
a law enforcement – community partnership that is
focused on public trust and safety and to provide quality,
responsive and effective services through valued employees.”
The RPD is broken down into several divisions, each with their own area of law enforcement to address. The Office of the Chief of Police is the central administrative division of the RPD and is composed of three sections: Department Administration, Department Operations, and the Community Services Bureau. The Office of the Chief of Police is also the body that investigates all cases of misconduct.
The largest division of the RPD is the Field Operations Division. It is home to the uniformed services of the department and is responsible for first response to emergencies, preliminary investigations, and patrol services for the City of Riverside. It is comprised of around one hundred and thirty sworn officers, twenty four Sergeants, six Lieutenant Watch Commanders, an Executive Lieutenant, a Traffic Lieutenant and a civilian support staff. Field Operations maintains four Neighborhood Policing Centers (NPC),North, East, Central and West, each responsible for its own area, and is also home to the department’s K-9 unit.
The Investigations Division is responsible for conducting follow-up criminal investigations and preparing cases for prosecution. It has several division within it that specialize in narrower fields of investigation. Crimes Against Persons handles homicides and assaults. The Robbery Unit handles robberies and weapons violations. Property Crimes & Tagging handles burglary and theft. Sexual Assault, Child Abuse, and Domestic Violence handles the crimes indicated by its title. Economic/Auto Theft handles fraud and auto theft cases. The SRO unit handles the department’s School Resource Officers. The Evidence Unit handles the collection of evidence. The Special Investigations Bureau handles gangs, narcotics, intelligence and technical services like the bomb squad. The 290 PC Compliance Officer handles sex registrant compliance.
The Management Services Division handles support functions for the department. Responsibilities under its purview include accounting, crime analysis, court services, facilities and fleet management, fiscal management and the Records Bureau.
The Traffic Bureau maintains thirty nine sworn officers and is responsible for the enforcement of applicable city and state traffic laws. This Bureau also include the Major Accident Investigation Team.
The City of Riverside, California has an estimated population of 313,532 residents and experiences an annual average of 12,626 crimes. Violent crime makes up around 11 percent of those crimes with murders at 16 (0.05 per 1000 residents), rapes at 77 (0.25 per 1000 residents), robberies at 521 (1.66 per 1000 residents), and assaults at 785 (2.50 per 1000 residents) for a grand total of 1,399 violent crimes per annum (4.46 per 1000 residents). Property crime makes up the other 89 percent of those crimes with burglaries at 2,287 (7.29 per 1000 residents), thefts at 7,450 (23.76 per 1000 residents), and motor vehicle thefts at 1,490 (4.75 per 1000 residents) for a grand total of 11,227 property crimes per annum (35.81 per 1000 residents). Overall, a resident of Riverside, California has a 1 in 224 chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime and a 1 in 28 chance of becoming a victim of a property crime each year.
The RPD offers two resources for crime statistics on its website. Monthly crime statistics and a map of the NPCs can be found at https://riversideca.gov/rpd/resources-forms/crime-statistics. An interactive crime map can be found at https://www.cityprotect.com/map/list.
Information on filing or requesting reports with or from the Records Bureau can be found at riversideca.gov/rpd/MngtSvs/rcdefault.asp. Should you need to locate information on someone who may currently be incarcerated in the city jail system, the Jail Information Management System can be found at jimspub.riversidesheriff.org. Here you can perform a search by either entering a booking number or by entering information such as first and last name, date of birth and sex.