Bethlehem Police Department

The Bethlehem Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency for the City of Bethlehem, which is nearly 20 square miles in size with approximately 75,000 residents. Geographically, the City is divided into three major patrol precincts, North, West and South. Each precinct is further divided into districts with a total number of eight districts within the City.

There a six different ranks within the Bethlehem Police Department in the following order:

• Police Officer
• Sergeant
• Lieutenant
• Captain
• Deputy Commissioner
• Commissoner

The Department has four Divisions headed by a Captain, or by the Office of the Commissioner. The Operations Division, Criminal Investigations Division and the Support Services Divisions are led by Captains, while the Professional Standards Division reports directly to the Office of Commissioner.

The Operations Division is comprised of four Patrol Platoons. Platoons One, Two and Three are led by a Lieutenant and three Sergeants. These platoons work a rotation of dayshift and middle shift. The Fourth Platoon is also led by a Lieutenant and has five sergeants to cover the steady night shift. The Special Services Platoon is led by a Lieutenant and Sergeant and is comprised of our Motorcycle Officers, our Mounted Officers and our school resource officer.

The Criminal Investigations Division is handled by two Lieutenants who supervise the Criminal Investigative Bureau and the Special Operations Bureau. Criminal Investigations Bureau is comprised of the Forensic Services Unit, Detective Sergeant and Detectives. The Special Operations Bureau consists of three units; the Vice Unit, the Street Crimes Unit and the Bethlehem Housing Authority Street Crimes Unit. Each unit is led by a sergeant.

The Support Services Division consists primarily of civilian employees and supervisors of our 9-1-1 Communications Center and our Records Bureau. The Communications Specialists handle all calls that come into our 9-1-1 Center and also monitor our City’s surveillance camera system. Our Property and Evidence Unit is under this division and is run by a sworn police officer.

View the Police Department's Organizational Chart