About - SAPD

The backbone of any Police Department is the road patrol division. Officers start their career in Road Patrol and submit requests to be considered for a specialized units. Like all officers within the State of WV, they are certified by the State's Law Enforcement and Professional Standards Program. All are graduates from the WV State Police Academy.

The Police Department has 26 sworn full time officers, 2 public safety clerks, and 1 humane / animal control officer. The Reserve unit of the Police Department is a volunteer unpaid position. SAPD currently has 7 Reserve Officers. The St. Albans Police Department has officers assigned to specialized units which consists of Drug Investigations, Criminal Investigations, School Resource Officer, Special Enforcement Unit, and K-9 Unit. Drug investigations and complaints within the St. Albans area are the responsibility of the Metro Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT) and DEA HIDTA task force.

These task forces are federally funded and staffed by officers from surrounding agencies. One detective is assigned to the Kanawha Bureau of Investigation which is joined by detectives from the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department. This detective is also a Polygraph Operator. SAPD also assigns a full-time school resource officer at St. Albans High School. In addition to the high school, this officer assists other schools within the City with police related issues to help provide a safe school environment.

The newly formed Special Enforcement Unit is a full time group of officers that address neighborhood problems like street level drug dealing, problem areas with specific crime concerns, assist road patrol, MDENT and KBI with investigations. The SAPD K-9 unit is in the process of being reinstated with new officers and K-9s. The Reserve Police program plays a major role in assisting the road patrol with traffic / crowd control on special events.