Office of the Deputy Chief

Tracy D. Branch, Sr. is the Deputy Chief of Police responsible for providing leadership and oversight for the Department's three Bureaus (Investigations Bureau, Operations Bureau, and Support Bureau) as well as the Standards and Research Unit.

The Investigations Bureau, which is comprised of the Criminal Investigations Section, which includes the Homicide Unit, Robbery Unit, Special Victims Unit, Economic Crimes Unit, Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, Auto Theft Unit, General Assignment Unit, Intelligence Unit, Crime Analysis Unit, Polygraph Unit, Digital Forensics Unit, and School Resource Officers; and the Vice and Narcotics Section, which includes the Street-Level Narcotics Unit, Mid-Level Narcotics Unit, Major Case Unit, Vice Unit, and Gang Suppression Unit; as well as the Public Information Officer and the Crime Line Coordinator.

The Operations Bureau, which is comprised of all six police precincts, the Police Chaplain Unit, and the Special Operations Section which includes the Animal Services Unit, Traffic Enforcement Unit, K9 Unit, Warrant Unit, Crime Prevention/CPTED Unit, SWAT Team, Underwater Search & Recovery Team, Marine Patrol Unit, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Team, and Specialty Response Vehicles Unit.

The Support Bureau, which is comprised of the Central Records Unit, Permits and Licenses Unit, Video Evidence Unit, Fleet Management Unit, Uniform and Equipment Unit, Forensics Unit, Property and Evidence Unit, VCIN/NCIC Unit, Automated Fingerprint Identification Unit, and  Photography Unit, the Public Safety & Emergency Communications Unit; the Professional Standards Section, which includes the Ethics and Conduct Unit, Off-Duty Employment Unit, Background Investigators Unit, the Police Recruiter; and the Law Enforcement Training Academy.

The Standards and Research Unit includes: Internal Inspections, Policy Development and the Accreditation team which manages and maintains the files and assorted documentation required for the national accreditation process through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).

The main focus of the police department is to partner with citizens and other City Departments to identify, prioritize, and solve contemporary problems such as crime, fear of crime, illegal drugs, and neighborhood decay, with the goal of improving the overall quality of life in Chesapeake.