Polk County Police Department

Working from offices in Cedartown, the Polk County Police Department is a Polk County government agency that operates separately from the Polk County Sheriff's Office. Its mission statement commits officers to safeguarding human life and public property and to applying the law equally. The department is organized around three divisions. Patrol officers provide protection 24 hours a day, write incident and crash reports, carry out keep checks on properties when owners request them, and enforce criminal and motor vehicle statutes, whether local, state or federal. Criminal Investigations Division detectives handle follow-up work on crimes against people and property, including theft, burglary, homicide and suicide cases. Drug agents go after mid- to high-level narcotics distribution networks in the county, and the department has detached officers to a Northwest Georgia Drug Task Force that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation oversees. Residents can send tips to that task force, self-report a traffic accident, file open records requests, or submit compliments and complaints online. One of the department's detectives, Kristen Hearne, died in the line of duty on September 29, 2017. The county's five-week Citizens Academy also includes a session on the department.