The Detective Division has an allotted manpower of 4 Detectives, and 1 Lieutenant. Detectives handle the investigations of cases that the Patrol Division receives, which would be too work intensive for patrol officers to work effectively.

Detectives are also assigned to the Vice Narcotics Unit, which operates as a separate unit outside the police department for the purpose of investigating vice crimes and drug trafficking. The Vice Narcotics Unit united with the Hancock County Sheriff’s office and the Hancock County Prosecutors Office to form the Hancock County Drug Task Force.This unit includes 4 Detectives and a Detective Sergeant between the Findlay Police Department and Hancock County Sheriff's Office.  This is a county wide drug task force responsible for investigating narcotics investigations in and around Hancock County and is part of the multi-county METRICH Enforcement Unit. 

General Investigations

The General Investigations Unit is tasked with investigating crimes which are considered too work intensive for the Patrol Division. This includes homicides, violent crimes, sex crimes, juvenile abuse as well as other serious crimes.

Internet Crimes Against Children

Two detectives from the General Investigations unit are assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children (I.C.A.C.) Task Force. The I.C.A.C. Task Force is a federal anti-crime initiate funded by the United States Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. It is a collaboration of city, county, state and federal law enforcement authorities across Ohio whose mission is to identify, arrest and prosecute individuals who:

• Use the internet to lure minors into illicit sexual relationships.
• Use the internet to produce, distribute or solicit child pornography.

These two detectives also work closely with investigators of Child Protective Services in a variety of juvenile sex crimes and abuse cases.

Evidence Gathering and Processing

One detective from General Investigations and two patrol officers from the Patrol Division are assigned the task of evidence gathering/processing as trained Evidence Technicians or "Crime Scene Investigators". They assist the other divisions when called upon to gather and process evidence, as well as submit it to the respective agencies for analysis.

Vice/Narcotics Unit (VNU)

The Vice/Narcotics Unit, or VNU, is comprised of two detectives and is supervised by a Detective Sergeant who reports to the Detective Division Lieutenant. Detectives assigned to VNU operate as a separate unit from the rest of the department for vice crime and drug trafficking investigations.

METRICH Enforcement Unit

METRICH is a ten county law enforcement task force created to address multi-jurisdictional violators of Ohio’s drug, weapons, and organized crime statutes. The project operates with a basic “Community Policing Philosophy” using a “Weed and Seed Strategy“ from ten “decentralized” offices. METRICH is comprised of law enforcement agencies from:

• Ten counties and forty communities located in north central Ohio.
• Multiple federal agencies:
  • Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
  • Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD)
  • Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
  • Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)
  • Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
  • United States Post Office
• State of Ohio agencies:
  • Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI&I)
  • Ohio Department of Public Safety
  • Ohio State Board of Pharmacy
  • Ohio State Highway Patrol