Lindsay Police Department Overview

The Lindsay Department of Public Safety Police Services is comprised of 18 sworn police officers. This includes the Director of Public Safety, one administrative lieutenant, 4 sergeants, and 12 patrol officers.

The Department also employs on a full time basis, one police and fire dispatcher, a records clerk, a records supervisor, and three community service officers. One sworn police officer is also assigned to the youth services office and one sworn officer is assigned as a School Resource Officer.

The police services currently has five (5) marked patrol vehicles, one unmarked vehicle assigned to the Director of Public Safety, and two unmarked vehicle assigned to the Community Services Officers.

Anyone interested in becoming a police officer with the Lindsay Department of Public Safety should have already attended a P.O.S.T. certified law enforcement academy. After they are hired by the City of Lindsay, their law enforcement education is continuous and ongoing. New officers will receive 16 weeks of intensive training with a field training officer through a field training program. Once they complete their field training program, officers generally receive training through the department or are sent to outside agency schools, such as DUI, traffic accident investigation, narcotics investigation, or sexual assault investigation, just to name a few.

There are currently four shifts the officers work: day shift, swing shift, graveyard, and relief shift. The officers are assigned a shift for three to four months and are rotated through each shift yearly. There is an administrative sergeant position which has a sergeant working full time 5 days a week. This administrative sergeants are rotated through this position yearly.

Currently, the Lindsay Department of Public Safety has funding for a Youth Services Officer position. See "Youth Services Program" in the index. An officer working in this capacity works closely with the Tulare County Probation Department and the Lindsay Unified School District. He will make classroom presentations and be available to the school administration to assist in behavioral problems as well as criminal problems throughout the entire school system and community.

Patrol officers patrol an area comprised of 2.8 square miles. Their duties are to respond to calls for services, traffic enforcement, crime suppression through directed patrol and many other duties atypical of larger departments. The Lindsay Department of Public Safety does not have specialized investigative units. A patrol officer is responsible for all traffic on his or her beat. This includes anything from a minor vandalism investigation to a murder investigation. This makes Lindsay police officers some of the most well rounded law enforcement officers in the state.

The Public Safety Department also conducts several DUI checkpoints, ABC stings, burglary stings, and seat belt checkpoints, per year. These operations are generally handled by the Reserve Police Officers and are supervised by one or more full time police officers, including a sergeant.

Anyone interested in any information not listed above may contact the Director of Public Safety, Ramon A. Figueroa at (559) 562-2511, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m., PST.