Patrol Division

The Backbone of Law Enforcement

What is "Patrol"? When you call the police and a uniformed officer shows up, that is generally patrol officers. They drive around the city all day and night, looking for suspicious activity, criminal behavior, and traffic safety issues. The Lake Oswego Police Department's patrol division comprises twenty-one patrol officers, six sergeants, and a patrol lieutenant. There are three shifts with seven officers and two sergeants assigned to each shift. This ensures adequate coverage seven days a week, 24 hours a day. The patrol lieutenant oversees the patrol division ensuring efficiency and consistency of operations between the three patrol shifts. 

Officers are committed to responding to almost any call for service that the community feels is important. Lake Oswego police are some of the most competent and well-trained officers anywhere. This is due in part to continuous training and overwhelming community support.

In most circumstances when an officer handles a call, that call is serviced by that same officer through the entire investigation. In many other departments, the patrol officer only takes the initial call and then forwards the rest of the investigation to a detective or other specialist. Having the officers do their own follow-up helps maintain an open line of communication between the officer and the citizen and has helped make our patrol officers some of the best around.