The Maggie Valley Police Department is a twenty-four hour, seven days a week and 365 days a year law enforcement agency. The Police Department provides a service to the citizens of Maggie Valley and the tourists that visit our area. The Police Department currently has nine full-time Officers. We also have one Administrative Assistant. Three of our Officers are certified Law Enforcement Instructors that teach on a regular basis through Haywood Community College. We have one certified Firearms Instructor, one certified taser instructor, two certified first responder instructors, and two CID certified operators. The majority of our Officers have either Advanced Law Enforcement certificates, or Intermediate Law Enforcement certificates.

The Police Department normally has one road Officer per shift except on Friday and Saturday nights due to the bar activity. Last October we did receive a grant from the Governor’s Highway Safety Program that allowed us to implement a Traffic Officer position and the result has been very positive. Our Detective position has been a great asset to the Department and the taxpayers. As everyone is aware, the progress of the construction of the new Police Department is going well. The opening of Ghost Town is May 25, 2007, and that will impact the department to an unknown extent at this time.

A new program was begun in 2006 when the Maggie Valley Police Department applied for a grant to fund a traffic officer position with the GHSP (Governor’s Highway Safety Program) and received the grant. In the first year of the grant, the Town received 100% payment of salary and certain equipment, including the new Dodge Charger patrol vehicle. In succeeding fiscal years the funding for the position will come less from the GHSP and more from the Town, until year 4 when the Town will assume all costs of the position.

Our Officers do all aspects of law enforcement from routine patrol to homicide investigations. A Maggie Valley Officer must be able to enforce traffic laws, work accident investigations, do crime prevention, work white collar crime, take reports, and be knowledgeable of all State and Federal laws. A Maggie Valley Officer must be able to do a complete investigation from the time the initial report is taken to the prosecution of the case. The Maggie Valley Police Department is responsible for service of all warrants within our jurisdiction, and assisting in the processing of ABC applications for our area. It is the responsibility of the Maggie Valley Police Department to provide a safe area for our citizens, tourists and businesses. The Maggie Valley Police Department averages one Officer per 133 citizens and at peak times, one Officer per 777 citizens during peak times. Currently, it averages 2 hours and 40 minutes to make one complete routine patrol through the city limits of Maggie Valley, including satellite-annexed areas. Maggie Valley is growing extremely fast in residential areas and we need to proactive in growing as a Police Department.