The Patrol Division is the largest unit in the department and is comprised of 3 separate shifts. Officers of the Patrol Division are responsible for answering all initial calls for service that come in to the Muscatine County Joint Communications Center (MUSCOM). The separate shifts are assigned as follows:

• Day Shift - 0700 hrs to 1500 hrs (7 am to 3 pm)
• Afternoon Shift - 1500 hrs to 0100 hrs (3 pm to 1 am)
• Night Shift - 2100 hrs to 0700 hrs (9 pm to 7 am)

Day shift officers work 5 8-hour days while the afternoon and night shift officers work 4 10-hour days. Because of this, afternoon and night shift officers work 4 days on duty and then have 3 days of off. As an example Officer John Doe may work Wednesday through Saturday and be off-duty Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. All shift assignments and day off combinations are bid by seniority every 6 months.

This particular schedule allows a 4 hour overlap between the afternoon and night shift which allows the shift supervisor to assigned “special details” to officers on a rotational basis. “Special Details” are short term duty assignments that tend to target particular problems issues within the city. For example a shift supervisor may assign the Bike Patrol or officers in plains clothes and an unmarked vehicle to the area of a rash of car burglaries. In addition most officers in the Patrol Division are also assigned to other details. Some other special assignments members of the department could be involved in are listed below:

• Crisis / Hostage Negotiator
  
• Domestic Violence Investigator
  
• Evidence Technician
  
• Field Training Officer
  
• Investigations
  
• Joint Terrorism Task Force
  
• K-9 Patrol / Officer
• Local Drug Task Force
  
• School Resource Officer
  
• Serious Accident Investigator
  
• Special Response Team
  
• Various Training Instructors