Catawba Police Department

Jurisdiction and responsibilities

Catawba Police Department serves the Town of Catawba. It is distinct from the Catawba County Sheriff's Office and from any college agency sharing the Catawba name. The town's official police page identifies the station at 102 1st Street NW and a police mailing address of P.O. Box 848, Catawba, NC 28609. The town contact page and the county's official agency directory list 828-241-4888 for police, while the dedicated police page displays 828-241-2215. Because those official listings disagree, confirm the administrative number before relying on it. The police page directs emergencies to 911 and nonemergency service requests to county communications at 828-465-8200.

How the agency is organized

The town continues to publish a police department page, an organizational chart, law-enforcement application materials, and a part-time-officer recruitment notice. These official listings support including the department as an operating municipal agency in this directory. The published chart places police officers, reserves, Animal Control, and an NCLEA manager under the chief's organizational structure. It is an undated chart, so individual names, vacancies, and staffing numbers are not reproduced as current facts. The department's mission document describes protection of the town's residents, businesses, visitors, and property, and emphasizes professionalism, integrity, community, and dedication.

Agency history and local context

Catawba's community history follows the railroad and the river. Trains reached the settlement around 1859; Catawba Station incorporated in 1872, and the Town of Catawba formed in 1893. Its name comes from the Catawba River along its eastern side. The town's historic district joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Local preservation work restored the circa-1873 Dr. Q. M. Little House, where the historical association opened its museum in 2003. Brick storefronts, homes, and churches preserve the setting of the community served by the police department.

Official records and officer resources

Applicants can start with the Town Employment page and the police page's town application and additional law-enforcement requirements. The employment page advertises part-time police work, but applicants should confirm whether a particular opening remains available. The police page also links the mission, vision, and values document. No publicly accessible current employee grievance policy was established in this review. For a personnel-policy or historical-record request, use the town administration and department contacts to obtain the specific document, its effective date, and any applicable notices. The public recruitment materials alone do not establish an officer's review or appeal route.

FBI data · 2025

The following figures are from the FBI’s 2025 published agency tables. They describe a reporting period, not current staffing or an assessment of agency performance.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer downloads, table 78; published agency label: Catawba. Table_78_Full_time_Law_Enforcement_Employees_by_State_by_Cities_2025.xlsx

Blank or unavailable values remain “Not published.” Participating agencies and reporting scope vary. Campus figures concern the reporting institution; a city name does not expand them to all local residents. Read the data definitions and limitations.

NC SBI data · 2024

The NC SBI record is published under Catawba. Its 2024 reporting-status table lists: Does Not Participate. These earlier figures are presented separately from the FBI’s 2025 tables.

Sources: SBI agency reporting status · SBI law-enforcement personnel.

Personnel are a dated full-time payroll snapshot. Civilian classifications can include jail employees without outside police powers. These are not authorized-position or vacancy counts. Index-crime totals cover selected categories and are not totals of all crime.

Sources and review date

Official agency, government and institutional sources are linked below. Contact details and organizational information were reviewed September 24, 2026. Published statistical years are identified separately.

• Official police department: address, dispatch instructions and active agency materials
• Town contact directory: police office phone
• County communications agency telephone directory
• Town Employment: police recruiting notice
• Published police organizational chart
• Department Mission, Vision and Values document
• Town historical association: railroad origins, historic district and museum
• Town of Catawba historical chronology, municipal budget page 72