Riverside Police Department

If a loved one, a family member or you have been arrested by or are being investigated by the Riverside Police Department, it can cause a lot of worrying, mostly just from uncertainty of what will happen or can happen.  Moreover, one is dependent upon the honesty, accuracy and competence of a police officer, who may or may not be experienced or have the same sense of urgency as you in having the police report properly written.  

Facing such a situation, knowing the bail amount (if any) associated with the offense or offenses at issue if police deny an own recognizance (OR) release may help reduce one’s uncertainty.  It is also good to know what evidence is needed to convict one for the crime or crimes that allegedly took place, the defenses possible and the sentence a judge can impose if one is convicted of the crime or crimes.  

We at Greg Hill & Associates believe it is smart to know a few more things before interacting with any branch of law enforcement.  It can be wise to know the size of the police or sheriff’s department, the area’s demographics, a bit of history about the town, city or area, and the most common types of crimes the department investigates to make one’s communication with law enforcement more meaningful, more savvy and perhaps, more respectful.  This can lead to a better outcome than if one lacks such perspective.

This article is presented with these goals in mind.

The Riverside Police Department is a large force with 373 sworn police officers and 147 civilian support personnel assigned to it. 

 
The Riverside Police Department is responsible for patrolling the City of Riverside, which is 81.54 square miles and has a population of 314,998 as of 2020.

The city of Riverside has 28 designated "neighborhoods" within the city limits.[23] These include Airport, Alessandro Heights, Arlanza, Arlington, Arlington Heights, Arlington South, Canyon Crest, Casa Blanca, Downtown, Eastside, Grand, Hawarden Hills, Hillside Hunter Industrial Park, La Sierra, La Sierra Acres, La Sierra Hills, La Sierra South, Magnolia Center, Mission Grove, Northside, Orangecrest, Presidential Park, Ramona, Sycamore Canyon Park, Sycamore Canyon Springs, University, Victoria and Wood Streets.

Riverside is the 59th-most-populous city in the United States and the 12th-most-populous city in California.

Riverside was founded in the early 1870’s. It is the birthplace of the California citrus industry and home of the Mission Inn, the nation’s largest Mission Revival Style building.

Brazilian navel oranges were the first citrus fruit grown in Riverside and they did phenomenally well.

March Joint Air Reserve Base borders Riverside on the east serving as a divider between the city and Moreno Valley.  March ARB, founded in 1918, is the oldest operating Air Force base west of the Mississippi River.

For arrests along the freeways, State Route 91, State Route 60 and Interstate 215, crossing Riverside, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) will normally handle this work, although one may be thereafter transported to the Riverside Police Department for processing, a breath test (if a DUI) and booking.  The person may also be held at the Robert Presley Detention Center in downtown Riverside.

As of 2010, the city’s population was 27.69% non-Hispanic white, 7.13% Asian, 5.98% African American and 54.73% Hispanic.

Cases arising out of the Riverside Police Department’s areas of responsibility are brought at the Riverside Hall of Justice at 4100 Main Street in downtown Riverside unless federal authorities assert control over the matter.  

Over the last 25 years, our office has handled perhaps fifty cases arising out the Riverside Police Station and brought in the Riverside Hall of Justice.  Such cases vary from DUI to domestic violence, to shoplifting, to possession and / or sales of a controlled substance.  We have also handled many post-conviction matters such as expungements, reductions of a felony to a misdemeanor and motions to vacate a conviction for lack of immigration warnings.

We find that locals to the Riverside area often distrust local criminal defense attorneys as being social friends with prosecutors and judges, so they are unwilling to fight too hard to preserve their friendships, so we are hired instead because we presumably have no such ties or loyalties.

Below is the Google Map to the Main Riverside Police Station.