Criminal Investigation Division

Duties & Responsibilities

The Criminal Investigation Division of the Council Bluffs Police Department is currently staffed with thirteen detectives, two sergeants, and a captain. CID is responsible for the investigation of misdemeanor and felony incidents that occur in the city limits of Council Bluffs, Iowa.  The Criminal Investigation Division is also responsible for crime scene investigation and maintaining property and evidence within the Department. 

Most of the work involved with CID deals with interviewing victims, witnesses, and attempting to find a suspect. The detective may attempt to interview a possible suspect, and if the case is strong enough, the detective may obtain an arrest warrant. They may also obtain a search warrant to look for property or evidence. The average case assignment for the officers of this division is 25 cases per month. These range from simple thefts to murder investigations.

ESD Murphy

Murphy has been assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division as Detective Fletcher's partner. She started her duties on 8/14/23. Murphy is specially trained as an emotional support dog and will be used at the Police Department and with the public.

Murphy is a Labrador Retriever. She will turn two in October of 2023.

Calling the Detective Bureau

When calling the Detective Bureau to follow-up on an investigation or find out which detective is assigned to your case, it is recommended that you contact one of the sergeants at the number listed. It is important to have the incident number of your report. All reports are filed by the incident number.

Incident numbers are generally a six digit number. It is broken down into two parts - the first is the year (ex. 16) followed by the actual '911' assigned case number (ex. 012113). It will appear as 16-012113 on a report. The Uniform Division Officer who took the original report can provide the number.

Detectives are frequently away from their offices investigating incident reports. Each extension has voicemail for messages and return call numbers. Detectives make every effort to contact the victim of a crime as soon as possible after being assigned a follow-up investigation. However, due to caseloads or work schedules, it could take two to three days before a detective contacts you after filing the initial report.

Crime Lab & Crime Scene Investigators

The Crime Lab and CSI's are a section of the Criminal Investigation Division which handles processing all types of evidence and crime scenes.  Crime Scene Investigators (CSI's) work on each shift and have received extensive training in processing scenes.

Property & Evidence

The Property and Evidence section of the Criminal Investigation Division is responsible for handling all forms of property and evidence turned in by officers.