Support Services

Support Services

The Support Services Division is responsible for most of the support activities of the Police Department's operational areas. The Division is divided into the following units and consists of 12 full-time, 15 part-time, and an average of 10 volunteer personnel for 2007. The Support Services Division consists of the following units:

Jail Cell The jail staff is responsible for booking and processing all persons arrested by city police personnel, as well as holding some county inmates waiting a court hearing. The jail staff is responsible for the safety and welfare of those incarcerated, as well as fingerprinting and photographing persons for applications for employment, special permits, visas, and passports.

The Kingsport City Jail is a state certified 72-hour, short term holding facility. During 2007, the jail staff processed 3296 persons for 8161 charges. The jail staff submitted 3100 fingerprint cards to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for processing into the Automated Fingerprint Identification System in 2007 with an error rejection rate of .01%, well under the 15% error rate allowed by law. The Jailers entered 349 pawn tickets for the year. This is a decrease from 2006. This was due to not having any pawn shops open for approximately six months of 2007.

Jail Activity/ Bookings

				2007 . . . . . . 3296
		2006 . . . . . . 3316
		2005 . . . . . . 3314
		2004 . . . . . . 3113
		2003 . . . . . . 2923
		2002 . . . . . . 3116
		2001 . . . . . . 3346
		2000 . . . . . . 3190
		1999 . . . . . . 3148
		1998 . . . . . . 3565
		1997 . . . . . . 3329
Those needing services should call 246-9111. 
		Animal Control	

		Animal Control

The Animal Control Officers are responsible for enforcement of the animal control ordinances of the city, picking up stray or abandoned animals, monitoring health and welfare of domestic animals, and assisting the Humane Society in animal cruelty investigations. This unit responded to 3,002 calls for service in 2007.  The Animal Control Officers picked up and disposed of 1149 dead animals located on city right-of-ways. Additionally, some work is performed in the area of wild animals as it pertains to rabies control and other emergency situations. Animal control worked 257.5 hours as school crossing guard also.

Animal Control Laws

Sullivan County Animal Shelter
Kingsport Animal Shelter
Barking Dogs?
Parking Enforcement

The Parking Enforcement Unit is responsible for monitoring parking law violations in downtown Kingsport. This includes all parking ordinances for streets, alleyways, and parking lots requiring permits or fees. Parking Enforcement, Patrol personnel and Volunteers issued 3,233 parking citations in 2007. Police Department Volunteers wrote 1,271 parking citations in 2007.

School Crossing Guards

The Police Department has 15 School Crossing Guard positions working at nine different schools. Crossing guards are responsible for elementary and middle school students crossing the street at selected intersections in and around schools.

School Resource Officer

The Kingsport Police Department, in concert with the city school system, previously provided two School Resource Officers (SRO) to Dobyns-Bennett High School, John Sevier Middle School and Ross N. Robinson Middle School. Beginning in January of 2007, a third School Resource Officer was added. The SRO for Dobyns-Bennett High School handled 161 investigations in 2007. The SRO for Sevier and Robinson handled 33 investigations in 2007.

National Association of School Resource Officers
National Association Prevent School Violence
National School Safety Center
Nuisance Code Enforcement

The Code Enforcement Officers are responsible for investigating nuisances such as abandoned motor vehicles, tall grass/weeds, junk appliances in public view, and other trash or brush that causes public eyesores. In addition, the officers are responsible for inspection of wrecker vehicles to ensure they comply with city regulations. Code Enforcement works with the city�s Legal Department on nuisance issues and investigated 655 complaints in 2007. This is an increase of 25 complaints over 2006. Of these complaints 569 cases were resolved and closed. That is an increase of 79 calls cleared for 2007 or an 87% clearance rate for all calls.

Citizens Corps Logo

    Citizens Corps

In the next few months the KPD will be developing a new group of Citizens Corps volunteers.

Under the direction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, Citizen Corps is a community-based initiative to engage all citizens in homeland security and community and family preparedness through public education and outreach, training opportunities, and volunteer programs. Programs under the Citizen Corps umbrella include federally sponsored programs and other activities that share the goal of helping communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to all-hazards. Citizen Corps encourages all Americans to take an active role in building safer, stronger, and better-prepared communities.

"The mission of Citizen Corps is to harness the power of every individual through education, training, and volunteer service to make communities safer, stronger, and better prepared to respond to the threats of terrorism, crime, public health issues, and disasters of all kinds."

Local volunteers can fill a variety of needs including orgainizing community watch programs or presenting preparedness programs. More details to come.

The volunteer contact is Captain Paul Bowman at 229-9497, 8-5 Monday- Friday.

Citizen Corps US Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Tips The USA PATRIOT Act

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