The Bridge City Police Department Criminal Investigations Division would like to welcome you to our page and hope that we can assist you in any criminal offense, which may have occurred to you.

Detectives are involved in crime scene recovery of evidence, case preparation for the assorted courts, and involved in testifying in court cases. You may wonder as a citizen what happens after you contact the Police Department and what action will be taken. Once contact has been made with a Patrol Officer, that Officer determines if an actual crime has been committed. For a crime to be committed, it must meet the elements of the specific law, which has been broken. The Officer takes down all the information available to him and transfers that information into a police report. Any physical evidence such as fingerprints, or photographs of the crime scene are also taken by the Patrol Officer and placed into a secure property room at the Police Department. That report is received by the telecommunicator and transferred into the Police Department's computer system. The police report is then assigned to a Detective who reviews the information. The Detective assigned to the case will attempt to make contact with the citizen. This allows the Detective to see if there is any additional information on suspects or witnesses who might have been involved in the offense. The Detective will attempt to identify the suspect in the offense, which is needed to file a case with the assorted courts. The Detective will interview the suspects identified in a case and gather any evidence including written statements from witnesses. Once the information has been gathered, the Detective will type a case report which is forwarded to the Orange County District Attorneys Office. On offenses classified as Misdemeanors, the Detective is required to have a warrant issued for the suspect. The Detective must again type up this warrant and a judge must review it before signing it. The judge reviews the information to see if there is probable cause to arrest the suspect. This allows the Police to arrest the suspect and transfer him to jail where he can be arraigned before a judge. The judge will determine the amount of bond to be set on the suspect who has been arrested. The suspect is then allowed to post that bond. In cases, which are classified as a Felony, the Detective can submit the information to the District Attorneys office, which is reviewed by their prosecuting attorneys. They can submit the case to a Grand Jury who hears the case and again determines if there is enough probable cause for the suspect to be indicted and the case to go to trial. If that determination is made, a warrant for the suspect is made by the District Attorneys office.

Physical evidence such as drugs, blood, and various other items must be submitted to the Department of Public Safety for analysis, which is presented at trials. This evidence must be hand delivered to the lab, which is located in Orange Texas. Any autopsies, which are performed, are made by the Jefferson County Medical Examiners Office located in Beaumont, Texas.

As you can see, a lot of time and effort must go into each case which is submitted to the courts. The Bridge City Police Department Criminal Investigation Division averages some 95 cases submitted to these assorted courts each month. Good police work by Patrol Officers and Detectives make this happen.