Ventura County Sheriff's Department (California)
| Ventura County Sheriff's Office | |
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Patch of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, used since the 1970s.
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Badge of the Sheriff of Ventura County
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| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1873 |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction | Ventura, California, U.S. |
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| Map of Ventura County Sheriff's Office's jurisdiction. | |
| General nature | • Local civilian agency |
| Sworn members | 800 |
| Supervisors responsible |
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| Agency executives |
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| Facilities | |
| Stations | 6 |
| Website | |
| VCSO Official Website | |
The Ventura County Sheriff's Office (also sometimes known as the Ventura County Sheriff's Department) provides law enforcement for the unincorporated areas of Ventura County, California as well as several cities within the county. The cities that Ventura County Sheriff's Office provides police services for are Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai, and Thousand Oaks.
The mission of the VCSO is stated by it to be: "We, the members of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, are committed to safeguard the lives and property of the residents of Ventura County and respond to public concerns in a manner which promotes neighborhoods free from the fear of crime."
The Office of the Sheriff for Ventura County began in February 1873, with the election of Sheriff Frank Peterson. What began as a duty to collect taxes and catch horse thieves has evolved significantly as the county has changed and grown. Seventeen other Sheriffs have held the Office of the Sheriff since 1873. The administration of justice (and more criminals going to trial rather than the dispensing of "frontier justice") became more sophisticated during the late 19th century. Sheriff Edmund Guy McMartin, a popular and upright man who was elected Sheriff five times, was the first and only Sheriff killed in the line of duty while apprehending a murder suspect in 1921.
Public hangings and bootlegging arrests gave way to police practices and procedures commonly recognized today. The modern era of Ventura County law enforcement began in 1959 with Sheriff William Hill. The 1970s saw the genesis of community involvement programs like Community Orientated Policing and Problem Solving (COPPS), DARE and Neighborhood Watch. Today, the cornerstone of county policing is the partnership between the Sheriff's Office and county residents.
The sheriff is elected in the county general elections, and he subsequently appoints his two Assistant Sheriff's. The Assistant Sheriff's manage two specific "services," or divisions, within the department.
The Ventura County Sheriff rank structure is as follows:
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Wikipedia