Criminal Investigations Division

Responsibilities

The Criminal Investigations Division is responsible for the follow-up investigations into various crimes including crimes against persons, property crimes, and fraud. Investigations is also responsible for conducting crime analysis and the collection, processing, and preservation of evidence.  The three detectives are responsible for the following activities:

• Investigating financial matters such as forgeries, identity thefts, financial transaction card frauds, embezzlement, and employee thefts.
• Investigating violent crimes.
• Investigating burglaries, auto thefts, and other property crimes within the City of Hanahan.
• Preserving, protecting, and processing the evidence of a crime in order to prove or disprove theories presented during the course of an investigation.
• Investigating criminal incidents involving juveniles or individuals with special needs, sexual assault cases, vulnerable adult cases, and certain missing persons and juvenile status offenses.

The Criminal Investigations Division also has one detective who is assigned narcotics investigations. This investigator aggressively targets, investigates, and brings to prosecution those individuals or groups involved in the distribution of illicit narcotics and/or vice operations. 

The Criminal Investigations Division is also responsible for the department’s participation in the Alcohol Enforcement Team Program.  The Ernest E. Kennedy Center serves as the lead agency for the 9th Judicial Circuit’s Alcohol Enforcement Team. Partnerships with law enforcement agencies in Berkeley County allows Ernest E. Kennedy Staff to be more effective in reducing access to and use of alcohol by underage youth. By working in partnership, the following strategies have been implemented in the community:

• Compliance Checks (sending underage youth into retail establishments to attempt to purchase alcohol).
• Party Patrols (monitoring communities for underage alcohol parties).
• Traffic Enforcement (routine traffic patrol looking for underage alcohol use).
• Public Presentations (speaking to youth, parents, businesses and other community members about underage alcohol use).