Duties & Responsibilities

Staying Ahead of Crime

The crime index in Southaven is low, well below national and State averages. This success rate is due not only to the hard work of the men and women of the Southaven Police Department, but also due to an excellent working relationship with the community as a whole.

In the effort to stay ahead of crime, the Police Department utilizes the Training Division to keep its officers educated and trained to as professional a level as possible. This includes conducting in-house training, sending our officers to proven training classes at other facilities, and hosting training by bringing in expert trainers from places such as California, Indiana, and Canada on a regular basis. The Department is also fortunate to have officers who are highly respected in the law enforcement community and are called on to provide training to various agencies in various states.

Reaching out to the Community
Not only do we fight crime in the traditional sense, but also utilize the Public Relations Division to help accomplish our mission. The duties of the Public Relations Division are undertaken by a staff that fully enjoys the tasks. These officers do an excellent job of reaching out to the children and teens of our community by working on a daily basis in the schools in Southaven and DeSoto County.

Our officers actively teach the Be a Winner drug awareness program, and are involved in Peer Counselors, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Students Against Drunk Driving, and several other activities at our local schools. Southaven has the only Police Explorer Post in the county. Our officers are also involved in all aspects of reaching out to the citizens. They participate in activities including the Easter Egg Hunt, Halloween Safety programs, and Child ID program to being Santa Claus at Christmas (where everyone from babies to the elderly in nursing homes and hospitals are shown Santa knows who they are).

The Police Department's Citizen Police Academy has been a huge success and we look forward to this annual activity.