Our
Duties

Community-oriented Policing

We are a community-oriented police department and assist the citizens in many ways such as providing security escorts for businesses, doing motorist assists, saturating patrols of high-crime areas, and helping the public in any possible way. We strive to make our community safe for all citizens, including those living in, working, visiting, or just traveling through Hazard.
We require our officers to be certified and trained with all equipment used by the department for law enforcement. Each officer hired must attend an twenty-two week basic training class at the Department of Criminal Justice Training in Richmond, Kentucky at Eastern Kentucky University. All officers must continue their training with at least forty hours annually and this training is conducted by the Department of Criminal Justice Training. Most officers receive more than the forty hours required, especially our supervisors.

Our Primary Mission

The primary mission of the Hazard Police Department is to coordinate and lead the efforts within the community to preserve the public peace, protect the rights of the persons and property, prevent crime, and generally provide assistance to citizens in urgent situations. The department is responsible for the enforcement of all Kentucky Revised Statutes, and Hazard City Ordinances within the boundaries of the City of Hazard. The department must enforce the law in a fair and impartial manner, recognizing both the statutory and judicial limitations of policy authority and the constitutional rights of all persons. It is not the role of the department to legislate, render judgments, or punish. The department serves the people of Hazard by providing law enforcement service in a professional and courteous manner and it is to these people that the department is ultimately responsible.

An accredited agency

The Hazard Police Department was awarded accreditation by the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police in June, 2007. The Hazard Police Department provides basic police services such as responding to automobile accidents, thefts, any disturbance, domestic complaints, making arrests, patrolling the city, doing crime prevention, and attempting to be proactive instead of waiting and reacting to complaints. We are trained and prepared for a variety of emergencies. We work very closely and effectively with the Kentucky State Police as well as other state, county, and federal law enforcement agencies.