On the weekend of March 14, 15, and 16, 2008, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Explorer Post 449 sent a team of 10 Explorers and three Advisors to the Imperial Valley Explorer Competition, held in El Centro, CA.  The competition was hosted by the Calexico PD, Imperial County Sheriff’s Department, and the US Border Patrol.

Post 449 competed in thirteen events and took honors in the following:
Marijuana Field Raid     DUI Scenario – 1st Place
Tubular Assault – 2nd Place   Tug-o-war
5150 Scenario     Felony Stops
Building Search – 4th Place   5K Run
Active Shooter Scenario – 2nd Place  Obstacle Course – 4th Place
Tactical Shoot – 2nd Place   Volleyball
Bicycle Course
Best Overall - OCSD Post 449 – 1st PLACE

These events are designed to be challenging.  Each Post is graded on officer safety, awareness, ability, firearm discipline, light discipline, and most of all, teamwork.  But at the end of the day the most important goal was to have FUN!  The following Explorers represented our Department with the utmost integrity:
  Mike Grijalva (Lake Forest) Simona Popsecu (Mission Viejo)
  Grant Latimore (South)  Nick Walsh (South)
  Melissa Borjas (North)  Rachel Rodriguez (North)
  Lorenzo Corona (West)  Eddie Pena (West)
  Melissa Gorfu (West)  Alex Bollman (Tri-cities)  More...

From the Community Services blog:

We are saddened to inform you that on Saturday, 3-15-08, at approximately 1415 hours, David Edgar was drag racing in an organized event in the Fontana area when he collided with the wall at the finish line.  He was traveling at approximately 118 MPH at the time of the collision. He was taken to Arrowhead Regional Hospital in the Fontana/Rialto area and placed into a medically induced coma.

David Edgar and his family are responsible for the Edgar fund; a generous endowment for the support of OCSD Law Enforcement Officers and programs.

The family is requesting no visitors at this time. Although David is expected to recover from his injuries, he is still in need of our prayers.

The latest group of Public Service Responders to join the Orange County Sheriff’s Department as volunteers include a DNA research supervisor, an equity firm COO, an attorney, a cable splicer, an orthodontist and a plastic surgeon.

The life skills these 55 volunteers bring to the department are a valuable resource that is available when needed to fulfill the mission of the Department. Many of these volunteers turn out no matter what time of the day or night they are called. They receive no pay and hold no law enforcement powers or any right, beyond that of an ordinary citizen, to carry a firearm.  All PSRs must complete CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) training to remain active in the program.

The program is administered by Capt. Brian Wilkerson and Lt. Thomas Slayton

PSRs contribute many hours of their personal time to help the Department in a myriad of ways. Some of the PSRs work on individual projects for the Department, providing their expertise wherever it is needed.

For example, some PSRs recently set up a blog for the Reserve Division.  The address of that Website is: http://www.ocsdcsd.org/blog/

Others join Reserve Units that accept PSRs. Those units include the following:

High Tech Services: This Reserve Unit provides highly trained experts in a wide range of fields, including photography, video technology and computer technology.  The unit provides help to the department in such fields as teaching parents how to protect their teens from Internet dangers to assisting the bomb squad in training and researching ways to disarm explosives. The unit seeks members who have expertise in a wide variety of skills, ranging from architecture to database design, computer programming, Web design and video production.  More...

Is this Tom Cruise, or Search & Rescue Reserve Captain Steve Riches? Recently, our Search & Rescue team enhanced their technical SAR training.

Here are some photos: More...

On Tuesday, March 4, 2008, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM, at Don Juan Avila Middle School in Aliso Viejo, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department High Tech Services Reserve Unit will give an interactive presentation on “Adolescent Internet Safety” for parents and/or caregivers and grandparents. Live Internet will be seen.

The primary topics of discussion will be MySpace.Com and instant messaging. The huge problems of child predators, cyber-bullying, child identity theft, and website harassment will be discussed. Parents and/or caregivers and grandparents will learn how predators can access children on the Internet.

This forum is designed for parents and/or caregivers and grandparents only. Students will not be admitted. Parents and/or caregivers and grandparents from Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel, and nearby cities are invited.

Don Juan Avila Middle School is located at 26278 Wood Canyon Drive, Aliso Viejo, 92656. For more information, contact M. Beauchamp at mbeauchamp@cityofalisoviejo.com.

Professional Service Responder George Ridley was honored by the Orange County Board of Supervisors with the Excellence in Volunteerism Award.

PSR Ridley was chosen from more than 20,000 volunteers for the county government, said Board of Supervisors Chairman John Moorlach during the ceremony, conducted at a PSR meeting Thursday at the Department’s Regional Training Center in Tustin. 

 “You sacrifice your personal time, time you could be with your family, time you could be doing other things and actually earning income, but the truth is you volunteer because you want to give back to your community,” Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson said in thanks to the PSRs at the meeting, including 56 who were about be appointed PSRs.

Acting Sheriff Anderson noted that the PSRs last year donated 15,232 hours of time to the Department and that meant a savings to the county of $1,142,400 based on the average savings for a volunteer worker. The reality is that many of the PSRs are professionals; doctors, lawyers and airplane pilots, so the savings is likely much greater.

Chairman Moorlach said the PSRs help give Orange County, “one of the finest Sheriff’s Departments in the country.”

Chairman Moorlach then turned his attention to PSR George Ridley, who takes photographs for the Department.

“George is one of the most active members of the PSRs, with 1015 service hours,” Chairman Moorlach told the gathering.   “In addition to photographing the Medal of Valor Ceremony, the Peace Officer Memorial Ceremony and graduations, he has helped the Terrorism Early Warning Group by taking aerial photographs of all the potential terrorism targets in the county.”

PSR Ridley spent 49 hours in the air on the mission and devoted a total of 128 hours to the project.

The work was challenging, PSR Ridley said in an interview before the ceremony. More...

Deputy Rich Reyes usually patrols Laguna Niguel with shined shoes, a freshly pressed uniform and a determination to protect those he serves. 

But on a recent Friday, Deputy Reyes dressed kind of scruffy and began to behave like a bomber committed to blowing up lives and property even at the expense of his own life.

Deputy Reyes was one of several actors used in the Department Bomb Squad’s Active Bomber Course, designed to introduce deputies and police officers in the challenges of responding to a scene and finding a suicide bomber, or homicide bomber, somebody willing to blow themselves and others to make a political point or to carry out a crime.

The goals of the course include:

•  Increase the awareness, knowledge and skills of the street officer to homicide bombings and other person borne bomb incidents.

• Increase the safety of the responding officers to homicide bombings and other person borne bomb incidents.

• Increase the safety of the public during homicide bombings and other person borne bomb incidents.

There has been lots of terrorist bomb training in recent years but too often it has been heavy on history and theory and short on how to handle situations that street officers are most likely to find themselves. More...

From February 13. Three clips:

The first, with Deputy Carla Kerr and Erlina Tulabut:

Next, with Sergeant Michael McHenry and Reserve Deputy Josh Money: More...

From the Press-Enterprise:

With just a hairdryer and a pingpong ball, pilot Steve Brown had the fourth- and fifth-graders in Menifee jumping out of their seats as they got a lesson in how airplanes fly.

It is not every day that students see objects float in the classroom. Enthralled by what appeared to be a magic trick, the students were lured into learning about how high-pressure and low-pressure air flow around an airplane wing and subsequently how it is that airplanes fly.

Wednesday marked the longtime commercial pilot's second visit to a classroom at Callie Kirkpatrick Elementary School as part of the Adopt-A-Pilot program, sponsored nationwide by Southwest Airlines.

[...]

Brown, 39, said he has worked as a pilot for 20 years. He also volunteers with the Orange County Sheriff's Department as a resource officer for the "aero unit" doing surveillance and search and rescue.

Orange County Register's Sean Emery interviews Sheriff's Chaplain Rick Yeomans. He writes:

"From the 9/11 attacks in New York and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans to the devastating fires in Orange County's canyon communities, Pastor Rick Yeomans is a constant presence during times of need.

A veteran of disaster response efforts from more than a decade of experience as a senior chaplain in the Orange County Sheriff's Department and member of the Red Cross Critical Response Team, Yeomans, a San Juan resident, formed Emergency Ministry Services earlier this year. Yeomans recently helped pull together volunteers from the South County church community to assist with cleanup efforts in the canyons..."

For the record, Sheriff's Chaplains are unpaid and they work under the Community Services Division, which also comprises our Professional Services Civilian Responders (PSR's) and Sheriff's Reserves. Read the entire interview right here.

On December 6, 2007, at approximately 4:00 p.m., 8 Reserve Deputy Sheriffs and 11 Professional Services Civilian Responders (PSR’s) from the Search and Rescue Reserve Unit responded to Irvine Regional Park to assist with the evacuations of the canyon areas. Additionally, 4 Reserve Deputy Sheriffs from the Operations Reserve Unit assisted with extra patrols and security at the command post. 

These sworn and non-sworn volunteer personnel left their regular jobs early, on short notice, to volunteer their time to the community via the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. They worked side by side with the paid investigators and deputies for this mission. The Search and Rescue Humvee and other specialized off road vehicles assigned to the Community Services Division were also utilized to assist in the evacuation effort.  

All those who responded to and or coordinated this effort served to make the community safer. Most will get a paycheck for their efforts. The Reserve Deputies and PSR’s served for free. We are fortunate to have such a dedicated volunteer force for these types of emergencies. They are ready, willing and able to respond again if needed this weekend or in the future.

 The baggage carousel area at John Wayne Airport was nearly deserted at 5:30 a.m., except for the mustachioed John Reichardt with his big smile, hearty handshake and warm greeting.

"This level will be packed around 10:30 am when the first flights from the East Coast arrive,” he told a visitor. He then took the visitor up to the ticketing level where the line for the security screening stations grew longer by the minute.

If they see a person looking lost, they offer help. “We give out a lot of directions. The first question we usually get is, ‘where is the restroom?  Not everybody is a frequent flyer.” 
Reichardt is 68, a retired postal worker and sign painter.  He is one of more than 30 Professional Services Responders who help staff John Wayne Airport. They wear black polo shirts with an embroidered PSR logo on the left side and they carry a distinctive PSR badge, which says “Civilian Responder.” New uniforms are on order and will include a windbreaker.    

The program began in May and the responsibility of the PSR is to act as an extra set of eyes and ears for the deputies working security at the airport. They help out travelers when they can, finding wheelchair attendants and even carrying luggage for parents flying with more youngsters and baggage than they can manage on their own.

PSRs work with sheriff’s deputies and sheriff’s special officers looking for suspicious luggage and parcels and inspecting truck deliveries bound for shops and restaurants on the secure side of the terminal to guard against bombs and contraband.  They help with traffic control and look for suspicious persons during security breaches. More...

The Orange County Sheriff’s Aero Squadron Reserve Unit (ASRU) was formed in 1947 by Johnny Martin at the Orange County Airport (now the John Wayne Airport) and consisted of 12 original members. This coincidentally, was the same year that the United States Air Force was created.  

The Aero Squadron’s first Reserve captain was Johnny Martin, under the direction of Sheriff Musick. This 1947 photograph of the Aero Squadron inspired the recent photograph of the modern Aero Squadron which was taken at the John Wayne Airport, 60 years later. 

The current Aero Squadron has over 40 sworn and PSR volunteer members and a fleet of over 35 privately owned aircraft at its disposal to support a variety of missions such as VIP transportation, prisoner transportation, aerial photography, aerial surveillance, and radio repeater communications support. The modern Aero Squadron operates under the command of Reserve captain Bud Rasner (the sixth Aero Squadron commander since its beginning) under the direction of Sheriff Michael Carona. 

Sheriff Musick appears in the 1947 photograph (back row center) and Sheriff Carona appears in the 2007 photograph (front row center).  In the 2007 photograph, the gentleman in the first row (right end in civilian clothing) is Don Cleland, 80 who was an original member of the Aero Squadron, and flew his personal airplane from his home in Arizona to attend this 60th anniversary commemorative photo session.

While we're on the topic, Ramin, who has been charged with designing our blog, also serves as a Reserve in the Aero Squadron. Ramin flies sick patients to and from hospitals as a volunteer for Angel Flight West.

I am constantly amazed by the generosity and the spirit of the men and women of this department. Ramin has always taken great care of us so it's no surprise that he's doing such great work in our community -- for those who need it most of all.