The Street Crimes Unit (SCU), formed in 2010, is a specialty unit of the Uniform Patrol Division comprised of officers who are involved in the specialized enforcement of targeted street level crimes, such as open air drug dealing, prostitution sweeps, burglary/robbery tracking, gang intelligence, and other quality of life type issue crimes.

The SCU works in strong collaboration with the Metro Special Operations Section (MSOS), sharing criminal intelligence information and combating narcotics offenses. Another goal of the department is to expand the manpower of this unit allowing for more versatile operations.  
 
Mission

The mission of the South Bend Police Department's Street Crimes Unit (SCU) is to disrupt and prevent dangerous street level criminal activity within the city of South Bend to provide a safe and secure environment for the citizenry quality of life.  

Scope of Operations

Street level criminal activity poses a specific and significant threat to the public's ability to live safely, move freely, and conduct business. The SCU's targeted activities include but are not limited to: neighborhood saturation patrols, prostitution enforcement, narcotics, illegal weapons possession, burglary, robbery, gang activity, and the apprehension of dangerous wanted suspects.  

Vision

The SCU will be able to commit time and resources to investigate specific, acute criminal activity that is a danger to the general public. The SCU is directed overall by the Chief of Police and will enhance the mission capabilities of all divisions. The SCU daily operations will be driven by citizen complaints, area crime data, Mayor's Task Force, Chiefs direction and intelligence gathered from surveillance and informants. The SCU will also focus on patterned and serial criminal activity. It is the goal of the SCU to make committing crimes within the City of South Bend difficult, thereby reducing crime and improving quality of life.