From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpolice departmentpoˈlice deˌpartment noun [countable] American English SCPthe official police organization in a particular area or city
Examples from the Corpus
police department• In 1994, New Orleans hired a new police chief to rescue the corrupt, ineffective police department from itself.• The Boca Raton police department gave him the name and phone number of a bank officer who could be reached in emergencies.• I would guarantee him an exclusive, pictures and all, which is something he'd never get from the police department.• There were some cases, nevertheless, of clear discrimination: age discrimination in the police department, for example.• When anything like this happened, every office-holder in the community made speeches passing the buck on to the police department.• But the whole police department is in on it. 