The Carlsbad Police Department, headquartered at 2560 Orion Way in Carlsbad's 92010 ZIP code, has protected the city since its founding in October 1952 as a single-officer force under the newly incorporated municipality. The department shares the 53,600-square-foot Public Safety Center — which opened in 1986 — with the Carlsbad Fire Department, centralizing emergency dispatch, investigations, and administrative operations on a single campus. A separate Safety Training Center completed in 2013 provides scenario-based instruction through a five-story commercial tower, a two-story residential structure, two indoor shooting ranges, a streetscape simulation, and classroom space — a complex approved by Carlsbad voters in 2002 and built between 2010 and 2013. The department handles approximately 100,000 calls for service annually across Carlsbad's 39-square-mile jurisdiction, with patrol officers covering zones that include high-traffic recreation areas such as Carlsbad Lagoon Recreation Area on Agua Hedionda Lagoon. Current authorized strength stands at 132 sworn officers supported by civilian staff, with dual accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies and the California Commission for Law Enforcement Accreditation.