Changes made last year at the DeKalb Police Department resulted in an improvement of performance, police say.

The DeKalb Police Department, 700 Lincoln Highway, created a domestic violence unit, expanded the special operations unit of the DeKalb Police Department by working with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s office and assigned a new Drug Enforcement Administration officer.

DeKalb Police Lt. James McDougall said the domestic violence unit was created in July. Its job is to review all domestic reports, follow up with victims, help victims get orders of protection and offer training for Safe Passage, among other things.

McDougall said the creation of the domestic violence unit has improved the Police Department’s relations with the county state’s attorney and Safe Passage. Safe Passage is a domestic violence and sexual assault prevention agency that provides services to victims.

“I think it is a great thing to build a partnership with victims and Safe Passage,” McDougall said. “[Officers] are able to work at the office now or meet with the victims in their home to help them more efficiently.”

DeKalb Cmdr. John Petragallo was part of the panel for the hiring process of the DEA officer. Petragallo said he cannot release the DEA officer’s name due to undercover investigations he is involved in. The DEA officer’s job includes in-depth investigations in drug trends, drug investigations, undercover capacity, working with informants and obtaining and executing search warrants. Petragallo said the DEA officer started in March 2013.

“Having an officer assigned as the DEA officer for the task force brings an added benefit to the community,” Petragallo said. “The DEA officer has additional tools, different intelligence and added benefits of time to conduct long-term investigations, and we have seen the results. For example, we jointly worked on an investigation at the DeKalb municipal court to achieve a cocaine bust.”

DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said the DeKalb Police Department joined forces with the officers from the County Sheriff’s Office for the special operations team in spring 2013.

The special operations team is responsible for high-risk situations, such as barricaded subjects, high-risk warrant situations, hostage situations and other special assignments. Since the team was created.

Scott said there have been more officers available for high-risk situations. He said there are also more trained officers who can respond and better resources from which to pull.

“I think it is a positive direction of cooperation between agencies,” Scott said. “We are more of a support for each other in these critical situations now.”