ABOUT FAIRHAVEN AND THE POLICE DEPARTMENT

Fairhaven has a year round population of just over 16,000 and has 12.53 square miles of land area.
The town is situated on Buzzard's Bay on the south coast of Massachusetts and shares a busy commercial harbor
with the city of New Bedford.

The Fairhaven Police Department employs 39 full-time and 6 part-time personnel.  We have 31 full-time and 5
permanent/intermittent officers.  There are 6 full-time communications personnel and one clerk as well as a
part-time custodian.  We also have a volunteer civilian webmaster who oversees this web site.
The sworn personnel consist of a police chief, one lieutenant, six sergeants and 29 patrol
officers.  A sergeant and 5 patrol officers are assigned as detectives.  One of the detectives also serves as the
domestic violence and elder protection officer.  Two officers are assigned to Fairhaven High School and Hastings
Middle School full-time during the school year as School Resource Officers.

We also have officers assigned on a part-time basis to marine patrol duties on our department's 24' marine patrol
vessel berthed in the Fairhaven-New Bedford Harbor.  We also have 5 fully certified police divers assigned to our
underwater recovery unit.  There are 6 officers who serve the department's police honor guard who participate in
parades and other ceremonial events.

The Fairhaven Police Department is responsible for law enforcement in the Town of Fairhaven and adjacent waters.
Fairhaven is a member of the Southeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council.