Response and Preparedness Group
The Response and Preparedness Group (RPG) is the emergency disaster team at TPD, responsible for the readiness and deployment of non-traditional equipment during critical incidents and disasters. The RPG was authorized as a specialty unit by Chief Anderson in early 2016 and was the result of efforts by the department to be more prepared for disaster responses following the April 2011 tornadoes.
Crisis Negotiation Team
The Crisis Negotiation Team is an on-call unit activated when there is a need to communicate with an individual that has barricaded him or herself in a house or a building, is suicidal, or has active warrants and refuses to surrender to officers. The CNT is also utilized when there is a hostage situation and communication is needed to bring a peaceful resolution.
Helicopter Unit
Established in 1971, the Tuscaloosa Police Department Helicopter Division is the oldest, full-time law enforcement aviation unit in the state of Alabama. The primary mission of the Helicopter Division is to provide aerial support to patrol and investigative divisions of the Tuscaloosa Police Department and surrounding law enforcement agencies in neighboring counties.
Motorcycle
The primary mission of the Traffic Division is to enforce traffic laws and investigate traffic accidents throughout the City of Tuscaloosa. The Traffic Division also investigates hit-and-run accidents that occur on the roadways and on private property within the city limits.
Hazardous Devices Unit
The Hazardous Device Unit technicians are specially trained in the recognition, identification, and disarming of explosives, incendiary devices and other weapons of mass destruction. HDU technicians are certified by the FBI at their Hazardous Devices School at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.
Major Crimes Response Unit
The Major Crimes Response Unit (MCRU) was created in 2007, as a subdivision of the Criminal Investigations Division, to process major crime scenes through documentation, evidence collection and analysis.
Criminal Investigations
The CID investigates property crimes and misdemeanors occurring within the city limits and police jurisdiction. This includes burglaries, robberies, thefts, financial crimes and domestic violence cases.
School Resource Officers
The Juvenile Division has School Resource Officers working in the middle and high schools to deter crime and build rapport with the students and faculty of the Tuscaloosa City Schools.
Narcotics
West Alabama Narcotics Task Force is a multi-jurisdictional task force. TPD, the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, the Northport Police Department and the University of Alabama Police Department provide the officers and supervisors who staff the task force. The Tuscaloosa County District Attorney’s Office provides the prosecutorial services for the task force. WANTF is charged with investigating all felony narcotics offenses in Tuscaloosa County.
K9 Unit
TPD started its Canine Unit in the early 1970s with two dual-purpose dogs. Today, TPD has five canines each with a full-time handler. A handler and his canine are on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to assist patrol or other specialty units should the need arise. All canines are assigned to the patrol division.