Investigative Narcotics Sergeant

Job Summary

Performs advanced investigative and technical law-enforcement work, with primary responsibility for developing, coordinating, and conducting narcotics and controlled-substance investigations. The Investigative Narcotics Sergeant investigates street-level and mid- to upper-level drug activity, overdose-related offenses, illegal distribution networks, prescription-drug offenses, and associated criminal activity, including weapons offenses, organized crime, financial crimes, and offenses against persons or property.

The position uses lawful investigative techniques that may include intelligence gathering, surveillance, confidential-source management, controlled purchases and deliveries, undercover or covert operations, case deconfliction, search-warrant preparation and execution, asset and financial investigation, evidence handling, and coordination with prosecutors, task forces, and local, state, and federal agencies.

Although narcotics enforcement is the position's primary assignment, the Investigative Sergeant must remain a well-rounded criminal investigator capable of handling crimes against persons, property crimes, financial crimes, death investigations, official misconduct, and other complex or sensitive cases. The employee participates in an on-call rotation and responds after hours and weekends to major incidents, serious crimes, narcotics operations, time-sensitive investigations, and other departmental needs.

The Investigative Narcotics Sergeant may provide case coordination, mentoring, training, report review, and operational leadership as assigned. These responsibilities do not independently confer formal disciplinary or command authority unless specifically delegated. 

Principal Duties and Responsibilites

1. Serves as the department's primary narcotics investigator and assumes principal responsibility for initiating, developing, coordinating, documenting, and presenting narcotics and controlled-substance cases.
2. Identifies and investigates individuals, locations, organizations, and distribution networks involved in the unlawful possession, manufacture, delivery, trafficking, diversion, or distribution of controlled and/or illegal substances.
3. Develops narcotics cases through lawful investigative techniques, including intelligence gathering, surveillance, interviews, confidential-source information, controlled purchases or deliveries, undercover or covert operations, consensual encounters, traffic enforcement, search warrants, financial analysis, and coordination with partner agencies.
4. Recruits, evaluates, documents, manages, and deactivates confidential sources in accordance with law and departmental policy. Maintains required source files, payment records, reliability information, operational plans, and supervisory notifications.
5. Plans, coordinates, and participates in controlled operations, ensuring operational objectives, officer-safety considerations, source controls, evidence procedures, contingency measures, communications, and required approvals are addressed.
6. Conducts case deconfliction and exchanges appropriate intelligence with authorized local, state, and federal partners before narcotics operations and other enforcement activities.
7. Prepares and maintains accurate investigative reports, affidavits, operational plans, surveillance logs, source documentation, evidence records, timelines, photographs, exhibits, and case files in accordance with the city’s record retention schedules.
8. Drafts, reviews, obtains, and serves search warrants, arrest warrants, subpoenas, court orders, and other legal process related to narcotics and general criminal investigations.
9. Plans and participates in warrant service, arrests, surveillance operations, and other enforcement activities, including high-risk operations when assigned, properly authorized, and supported by appropriate personnel and resources.
10. Identifies, documents, collects, packages, weighs, tests when authorized, transports, submits, secures, and preserves suspected controlled substances, currency, firearms, electronic devices, records, and other evidence while maintaining chain of custody.
11. Prepares, submits, tracks, and follows up on requests for laboratory analysis, digital examination, firearm analysis, latent-print examination, toxicology, and other forensic services.
12. Investigates overdose incidents and suspected drug-related deaths as assigned, including identifying the source of controlled substances, preserving evidence, coordinating with medical and forensic personnel, and evaluating possible criminal charges.
13. Identifies and investigates related criminal conduct discovered during narcotics investigations, including firearms offenses, organized criminal activity, money laundering, asset concealment, theft, robbery, assault, exploitation, and official misconduct.
14. Conducts lawful financial and asset investigations associated with drug trafficking and related crimes and assists with seizure or forfeiture proceedings when authorized by law and departmental policy.
15. Coordinates narcotics investigations and operations with patrol personnel, prosecutors, courts, assigned task forces, and local, state, and federal agencies, including the DEA, FBI, ATF, Texas Department of Public Safety, and other authorized partners.
16. Uses authorized criminal-history, intelligence, camera, jail-communication, license-plate-reader, records-management, digital, financial, and online resources to identify offenders, develop leads, assess threats, and document criminal activity.
17. Monitors local drug trends, overdose patterns, emerging substances, distribution methods, repeat offenders, and locations associated with narcotics activity and communicates relevant intelligence to authorized personnel.
18. Responds to community complaints and lawfully obtained information concerning suspected drug activity, evaluates the reliability and significance of the information, and determines appropriate investigative follow-up.
19. Maintains productive relationships with community partners and other sources of information while safeguarding confidential information and avoiding unauthorized disclosure of investigative methods or identities.
20. Performs skilled general investigative work involving crimes against persons, property crimes, financial crimes, fraud, forgery, organized criminal activity, death investigations, official misconduct, and other criminal or sensitive matters as assigned.
21. Receives and evaluates criminal and civil complaints and prepares general-information, offense, supplemental, and other required reports.
22. Interviews and interrogates complainants, victims, witnesses, sources, and suspects in accordance with applicable law and departmental policy.
23. Obtains written, recorded, or otherwise documented statements, admissions, records, depositions, and other relevant information.
24. Identifies, locates, apprehends, and arrests suspects and obtains arrest warrants when supported by probable cause.
25. Searches crime scenes and other lawful locations; identifies, photographs, documents, collects, secures, transports, and preserves physical, biological, documentary, and digital evidence.
26. Provides for victim and witness communication, preparation, safety planning, referrals, and transportation when necessary.
27. Reviews assigned cases for completeness, legal sufficiency, evidentiary issues, investigative gaps, related offenses, accomplices, anticipated defenses, and additional leads.
28. Consults with prosecutors, prepares cases for filing and trial, assists with witness preparation, and testifies truthfully and professionally in judicial and administrative proceedings.
29. Prepares and presents demonstrative exhibits, digital evidence, photographs, records, timelines, evidence summaries, and other materials for court.
30. Conducts sensitive investigations involving allegations of official misconduct or violations of law by public officials, employees, or law-enforcement personnel and conducts internal-affairs investigations when assigned.
31. Provides investigative leadership and guidance as assigned, including coordinating case activities, reviewing reports and files, mentoring personnel, monitoring investigative progress, and supporting the effective use of personnel and resources.
32. Assists in training officers and other employees in narcotics investigations, controlled operations, confidential-source practices, surveillance, evidence handling, legal process, report writing, interviewing, and related subjects.
33. Participates in an assigned on-call rotation and maintains reliable telephone or radio availability during designated on-call periods.
34. Responds promptly when called to major crimes, overdose deaths, serious assaults, suspicious deaths, narcotics operations, search-warrant service, officer-involved incidents, emergencies, or other time-sensitive investigations.
35. Works nights, weekends, holidays, extended hours, and irregular schedules when required by surveillance, enforcement operations, court proceedings, callouts, or investigative needs.
36. Carries out duties in compliance with the United States and Texas Constitutions; federal, state, county, and city laws and ordinances; court decisions; departmental policies; and lawful directives.
37. Maintain honesty, integrity, impartiality, confidentiality, sound judgment, and good moral character and preserves the ability to provide credible testimony in courts of law.
38. Builds positive relationships between the City of Commerce and the public by demonstrating courteous, respectful, fair, and professional conduct when interacting with visitors, city staff and the public.
39. Protects criminal intelligence, source identities, operational information, personnel information, and other confidential or sensitive material in accordance with law and departmental policy.
40. Maintains assigned vehicles, surveillance devices, evidence equipment, investigative accounts, funds, records, and other departmental property in an operational, secure, and accountable condition.
41. Performs other related duties as required or assigned.

Peripheral Duties

• Serves as a backup investigator for crimes against persons, property crimes, financial crimes, death investigations, and other general or specialized cases.
• Assists patrol, traffic, crime prevention, emergency response, and other departmental functions when operationally necessary.
• Covers assigned shifts, duties, or assignments in other divisions when required by staffing or emergency conditions.
• Conducts detailed background investigations of prospective employees when assigned.
• Assists with supervisory, administrative, planning, training, inventory, and special-project responsibilities.
• Assists in orienting, mentoring, and training new employees.
• Maintains assigned equipment, accounts, supplies, workspaces, and facilities and promptly reports needed repairs or security concerns.

Desired Minimum Qualifications

General Requirements 

• Must be at least 21 years of age at the time of employment.
• Must possess, a valid driver's license without a disqualifying record of suspension or revocation.
• Must satisfy all criminal-history, background, licensing, and appointment standards required by law, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE), and City policy.
• Must meet any citizenship or legal eligibility requirements applicable to appointment as a Texas peace officer.
• Must be able to read, write, and communicate effectively in English as necessary to perform the essential functions of the position.
• Must demonstrate integrity, sound judgment, emotional maturity, dependability, and conduct consistent with the standards of a Texas peace officer.

Required Education and Experience

• High school diploma or equivalent supplemented by a two‑year community college degree or vocational school training in police science, law enforcement, criminal justice administration, public administration, or a related field.
• At least three years of full-time paid continuous service as a sworn peace officer.
• Current TCOLE Intermediate Peace Officer Certificate or higher.
• Demonstrated criminal-investigative experience involving case development, interviews, evidence, legal process, report preparation, and prosecution support.

Preferred Qualifications

• Supervisory or leadership experience in a law-enforcement setting, including experience coordinating personnel or investigations, reviewing case files, mentoring officers, managing resources, or leading operational activities.
• Substantial experience investigating narcotics and controlled-substance offenses, including independent case development, surveillance, confidential-source management, controlled operations, search-warrant preparation and execution, evidence handling, and prosecution.
• Experience serving in a narcotics unit, criminal-investigations division, drug task force, or multiagency enforcement group.
• Training in confidential-source management, undercover operations, narcotics identification, clandestine laboratories, drug-trafficking organizations, electronic surveillance, financial investigations, asset forfeiture, overdose investigations, or related subjects.
• Experience investigating crimes against persons, property crimes, financial crimes, death investigations, organized criminal activity, or other significant criminal matters.
• Experience coordinating multi-agency investigations or operations involving law-enforcement agencies, prosecutors, courts, or governmental entities.
• Proficiency in drafting and executing search warrants, arrest warrants, subpoenas, court orders, and other legal process.
• Supervisory or leadership experience involving case coordination, report review, mentoring, resource management, training, or operational activities.
• TCOLE Advanced Peace Officer Certificate or higher.
• A demonstrated record of sound judgment, initiative, discretion, professional communication, effective case management, and collaboration across investigative disciplines.

Necessary Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Considerable knowledge of narcotics investigations, controlled-substance laws, drug-identification principles, trafficking and distribution methods, surveillance, intelligence development, controlled operations, and source management.
• Considerable knowledge of constitutional policing, criminal law and procedure, search-and-seizure law, arrest authority, investigative practices, report preparation, evidence handling, courtroom testimony, and officer safety.
• Knowledge of the legal, ethical, operational, documentation, security, and supervisory requirements governing confidential sources and undercover or controlled operations.
• Knowledge of case deconfliction, criminal-intelligence practices, information-security requirements, and coordination with prosecutors, task forces, and partner agencies.
• Knowledge of crime-scene procedures, digital evidence, forensic requests, chain of custody, and the safe handling and submission of suspected controlled substances.
• Working knowledge of general criminal investigations, including crimes against persons, property crimes, fraud, financial offenses, death investigations, and official misconduct.
• Ability to initiate and develop narcotics cases proactively while also responding effectively to assigned general cases and major incidents.
• Ability to plan and coordinate surveillance, controlled operations, arrests, and warrant service while assessing legal requirements, officer safety, operational risk, staffing, and available resources.
• Ability to evaluate source reliability, corroborate information, protect confidential identities, and maintain complete and accurate source documentation.
• Ability to analyze complex facts, intelligence, evidence, financial information, and digital records; identify relationships and inconsistencies; and draw lawful, supportable conclusions.
• Ability to organize and manage multiple active investigations, competing deadlines, scheduled operations, court obligations, and unexpected callouts.
• Ability to communicate complex facts clearly, concisely, objectively, and accurately in reports, affidavits, briefings, operational plans, and testimony.
• Ability to work independently under minimal supervision while keeping supervisors appropriately informed of significant developments, risks, and resource needs.
• Ability to lead, coordinate, train, and mentor personnel without exceeding assigned authority.
• Ability to maintain discretion, emotional control, reliability, and sound judgment during prolonged investigations, dangerous operations, irregular hours, and high-stress incidents.
• Ability to respond promptly and reliably while assigned to on-call status.

Special Requirements

• Must maintain eligibility for appointment and continued service as a Texas peace officer and maintain a TCOLE Intermediate Peace Officer Certificate or higher.
• Must possess and maintain a valid driver's license without a disqualifying driving record.
• Must meet applicable job-related physical, medical, psychological, background, firearms, and drug-screening standards.
• Must obtain and maintain access authorizations, security clearances, training, and certifications required for criminal-intelligence systems, task-force work, narcotics investigations, and assigned duties.
• Must complete required incident-command courses or department-approved equivalents within established deadlines.
• Must participate in an on-call rotation and maintain dependable telephone or radio contact during assigned periods.
• Must be able to report within the response time established by departmental policy when assigned on-call duty.
• Must work holidays, weekends, nights, extended shifts, rotating assignments, after-hours operations, court appearances, meetings, and emergency situations as operational needs require.
• Must maintain flexibility outside normal working hours for surveillance, controlled operations, search warrants, major incidents, and time-sensitive investigations.
• Assignment to narcotics duties, a task force, or an on-call rotation remains subject to departmental needs and does not limit the City's authority to assign other lawful duties.
• Complete FEMA courses ICS-100, ICS-200, IS-700, IS-800, ICS-300, and ICS-400, or department-approved current equivalents, within one year of appointment unless an earlier deadline is required.

Tools and Equipment Used

Police vehicle; police radio; speed-detection equipment; handgun and other authorized weapons; impact weapon; handcuffs; body armor; first-aid equipment; computers; mobile devices; cameras; evidence-collection and crime-scene equipment; and other assigned law-enforcement equipment.

Investigative resources may include authorized digital or online accounts and databases, email, camera systems, jail communications, license-plate-reader systems, records-management and computer-aided-dispatch systems, criminal-history and intelligence systems, forensic tools and reports, and other lawful investigative technologies.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Work includes sitting, talking, hearing, using hands to finger, handle or operate objects, tools or controls and reaching with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl, taste and smell.

Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

Other specific abilities include the ability to wear and/or carry bulletproof vests, weapons, and other tactical gear while locating, arresting, chasing, and physically restraining violent and non-violent offenders. 

The employee must occasionally push, pull, lift and/or carry more than 100 pounds.

Work Environment 

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee regularly works in outside-weather conditions. The employee frequently works near moving mechanical parts and is frequently exposed to wet and/or humid conditions and vibration. The employee occasionally works in high, precarious places and is occasionally exposed to fumes or airborne particles, toxic or caustic chemicals, and risk of electrical shock.

While performing duties of this job, the employee may be in high-stress, fast-paced, dangerous situations, including but not limited to search warrants, high-risk search warrants, call for service, armed individuals, encounters with hostile and/or violent individuals, potential active shooters, or similar, highly volatile, dynamic, and unpredictable situations. 

The noise level in the work environment is usually loud.

Compensation and Benefits

A copy of the City’s Step & Grade/Pay plan regarding compensation can be found online at: 

https://www.commercetx.org/media/4631  

The City of Commerce offers a competitive benefits package including a contributory retirement plan, medical, dental and vision insurance for City employees paid for 100% by the employer, life and disability insurance, and paid time off.

Selection Guidelines

The selection process may include a formal application, evaluation of education and experience, oral interview panel, extensive background investigation, job-related testing, drug screening, psychological evaluation, medical examination, and any other assessment required by law or City policy. Final appointment is contingent upon successful completion of all applicable pre-employment requirements.

Appointees are subject to a one-year probationary period. Eligibility for vacation leave and the effective dates of medical, dental, and vision benefits are governed by current City and departmental policies and the applicable benefit plans.

Formal application, rating of education and experience; oral interview panel and extensive background investigation; job-related tests may be required; drug screen; final selection and pre-employment medical examination. NOTE: Appointees will be subject to the completion of a standard probationary period which will last for one (1) year. Appointees have access to paid vacation time following the completion of their probationary period, according to departmental and city-wide polices. Appointees have access to health, vision and dental insurance benefits on the first of the month following the first full month of full-time employment.  

The duties listed above are intended only as illustrations of the various types of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related or a logical assignment to the position.

The City of Commerce is an "at will" employer.  The job description does not constitute an employment agreement between the employer and employee and is subject to change by the employer as the needs of the employer and requirements of the job change. 

The City of Commerce is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to providing fair and equal treatment of all applicants for employment without regard to age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

By submitting an application, candidate agrees that he/she has been provided access to this job description.