Criminal Investigation Division

Overview

The Criminal Investigation Division of the Council Bluffs Police Department is currently staffed with 13 detectives, two sergeants, and a captain. CID is responsible for the investigation of misdemeanor and felony incidents that occur in the city limits of Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Job Activities

Most of the work involved with CID deals with interviewing victims and witnesses and attempting to find a suspect. The detective may attempt to interview a possible suspect, and if the case is strong enough, the detective may obtain an arrest warrant. They may also obtain a search warrant to look for property or evidence. The average case assignment for the officers of this division is 25 cases per month. These range from simple thefts to murder investigations.

Calling the Detective Bureau

When calling the Detective Bureau to follow-up on an investigation or find out which detective is assigned to your case, it is recommended that you contact one of the sergeants at the number listed. It is important to have the incident number of your report. All reports are filed by the incident number.

Incident numbers are generally a six or seven digit number. It is broken down into two parts - the first is the year (ex. 16) followed by the actual '911' assigned call number (ex. 012113). It will appear as 16-012113 on a report. The Uniform Division Officer who took the original report can provide the number.

Detectives are frequently away from their offices investigating incident reports. Each extension has voicemail for messages and return call numbers. Detectives make every effort to contact the victim of a crime as soon as possible after being assigned a follow-up investigation. However, due to caseloads or work schedules, it could take two to three days before a detective contacts you after filing the initial report.