Community Engagement
The Wilmington Police Department community engagement unit plays a significant role in our agency. It consist of four sworn officers and three civilians whose goal is to build and promote positive police-community relations through communications, partnerships, and programs. By creating strong relationships with the community, we believe we can build a stronger foundation of trust between citizens and law enforcement and identify and implement solutions to safety concerns.
CALEA Accreditation Public Comment Portal
In 2011, the Wilmington Police Department voluntarily became a nationally accredited law enforcement agency through The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). CALEA accreditation ensures agency integrity, transparency, and accountability by verifying that the Wilmington Police Department is operating under, and adhering to, the precepts of community-oriented policing, and nationally recognized standards and best practices for law enforcement. As part of maintaining our accreditation status, we provide an opportunity for public feedback via the CALEA Public Comment Portal. 
The purpose of this public portal is to receive comments regarding our compliance with CALEA standards, engagement in the service community, delivery of public safety services, and overall candidacy for maintaining accreditation status. These comments can be either commendations or concerns. The overall intent of the accreditation process is to provide our agency with information to support continuous improvement, as well as foster our pursuit of professional excellence.
Please note, CALEA is not an investigative body, and this public portal should not be used to submit information for such purposes. Users will not receive a direct response to their submission, only an acknowledgement that the submission was received. Once submitted, the information will be considered in context to its relevancy to compliance with the standards and tenets of CALEA Accreditation. Standards titles may be viewed on the CALEA website. The Wilmington Police Department participates in the Advanced Law Enforcement Accreditation Program.
Public Comment Portal
Crime Prevention Programs
The Wilmington Police Department offers a number of crime prevention programs that help to improve safety in surrounding neighborhoods. We hope that you will take advantage of one of these programs or tell someone about them.
Residential and Business Security Surveys
Security surveys are conducted by professionally trained Crime Prevention Officers. These officers provide the latest crime prevention through environmental design tips and strategies on how to protect your home and/or business.
For more information call 910.343.3945
Your Own Residential Security Survey(PDF, 251KB)
Robbery Training
This training allows businesses and employees to heighten their awareness while minimizing business and employee risk by training them on what to do when a robbery occurs.
Community Watch
Community Watch Groups help to educate residents about safety, while providing the Police with neighborhood support. City residents are encouraged to organize a Community Watch in their neighborhoods.
Ride-Along Program
The Wilmington Police Department offers a ride along program. The program will allow an individual to spend a few hours with an officer, observe the officer’s day and ride along in a police vehicle. Each ride-along will be limited to a maximum of 5 hours between 7 a.m. -11 p.m. Dates requested MUST be two weeks out from submitting the application.
To apply:
1) Complete the liability waiver.
2) Save it to your computer
3) Fill out the form below and attach the waiver. Someone from the Crime Prevention Unit will get in touch with you.
Requirements-for-Ride-A-Longs.pdf(PDF, 48KB)
Liability-Waiver.pdf(PDF, 143KB)
Click here to view form.
National Night Out
The Wilmington Police Department in partnership with Stone Theatres, Cameron Management, and Cumulus Media are excited to invite the community out to our annual National Night Out event! This year’s event will take place on Tuesday, October 1st, 2024 at The Pointe 14 in Wilmington from 6 to 9 p.m. NNO enhances the relationship between neighbors and law enforcement while bringing back a true sense of community. Furthermore, it provides a great opportunity to bring police and neighbors together under positive circumstances.
We will have FREE giveaways, food, K-9 Unit, Mounted Unit, motorcycles, meet and greet with our officers, and music at this years event!
Click here to view form.