Lafayette Police Department (Louisiana)
The Lafayette Police Department is the principal law enforcement agency in Lafayette, Louisiana, with the exception of the campus of University of Louisiana, which falls under the responsibility of the UL Police. The Lafayette Police Department has a variety of specialized units, including SRO SWAT, Mounted Police, Traffic Unit, K-9 Unit, VIPER Unit, and one joint unit with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office, Metro Crime Scene/Forensics. The LPD's new recruits are trained at the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office's Acadiana Law Enforcement Training Academy (ALETA). The LPD is CALEA (Commission on Accreditation  for Law Enforcement Agencies) accredited. Divisions. Patrol. Patrol is the main and most visible division of the LPD. Along with regular patrol, the LPD has 4 specialized units in this division. Services. The Services Division provides vital non-emergency services to the citizens of Lafayette. Criminal Investigations. The Criminal Investigations unit is divided into four sections. Community Services. SWAT. The LPD operates a SWAT team of approximately 28 officers. These officers receive 60 hours of entry level SWAT training, as well as regular training throughout the year. The SWAT Team is prepared to support not only the LPD, but any  other law enforcement agency requesting their help. Lafayette Crime Stoppers. The LPD participates in the Lafayette Crime Stoppers program. The LPD encourages citizens to call the tip line to report crimes. Tipsters are kept completely anonymous, and any tip leading to a felony arrest or grand jury indictment will receive a cash reward. The number is: (337) 232-TIPS. Operation FALCON. The Lafayette Police Department participated in the U.S. Marshals Operation FALCON (Federal And Local Cops Organized Nationally) to round up fugitives in Lafayette and Acadiana. The operation caught 165 fugitives across Acadiana. Recognition. The Lafayette Police Department is known  nationally for the case of the Southside Rapist. From the early 1980s through 1995, a serial rapist preyed on women on the city's south side. After using all of the technology available to them, the LPD contacted and work with Dr. Kim Rossmo, who had developed a new type of profiling. The LPD was one of the first agencies to use geographic profiling to help find a suspect. Through geographic profiling and the DNA obtained from a cigarette butt, Randy Comeaux, a former sheriff's deputy, was found and convicted of the rapes. In popular culture. The South Side  Rapist case and the LPD were featured on an episode of truTv's Forensic Files.