Santa Cruz County Deputy Sheriffs' Association

The Aptos Chamber proudly congratulates the 2024 Annual Award Honorees. We are incredibly grateful for the outstanding work you do to support and uplift our community!

Outstanding Achievement Award: Supervisor Zach Friend

Community Enhancement Award: Willowbrook County Park, In
Honor of Sergeant Damon Gutzwiller Santa Cruz County Deputy Sheriffs' Association Santa Cruz County Parks Department Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office County Park Friends

Business of the Year: K&D Landscaping, Inc.

Organization of the Year: Live Like Coco

Man of the Year: Steve Bennett

Woman of the Year: Tricia Wynne Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries Santa Cruz Public Libraries Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz

Some of our deputies enjoyed some time at the Multicultural Festival hosted by Cradle to Career. It was a great event showcasing the diversity of our community through music, dance, and lots of food! We appreciate the good work Cradle to Career is doing for families in Santa Cruz County!

Please donate if you can! Kristen is a champion for law enforcement and unlike her competition (Kim De Serpa) Kristen cares for the well being of students at local schools. Let’s not forget that Kim De Serpa was a PVUSD board of trustees member who voted to remove SRO’s from Aptos Highschool. https://pajaronian.com/pvusd-eliminates-school-resource-officer-program-2/

Tragically during the time period there was no SRO on campus a student was stabbed on campus resulting in their death. https://lookout.co/school-safety-resource-officer-pajaro-valley-unified-school-district-pvusd-renews-sro-program-in-wake-of-aptos-high-stabbing-nine-months-ago/

We expect our elected leaders to have the foresight to understand that children’s safety in schools is paramount. Please vote for Kristen Brown for Santa Cruz County Supervisor, District 2

There's less than 2 weeks until our September 21st fundraising deadline, and we only need 8 more people to make the maximum contribution of $550 to meet our goal. Our campaign is fueled by the strength and commitment of our community—and with just 57 days until Election Day, there's plenty of work still to be done. We're confident we can get there with your help. Every dollar counts—whether it's $5, $25, or $500, your support makes a real difference in this race. Please consider making a donation today at bit.ly/SupportKristenBrown.

Thank you for your service Sheriff Hart! 36 years is amazing!

𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐟 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐔𝐩𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

After 36 years with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Jim Hart has announced his intention to retire on December 6th, 2024. He is currently serving his third term as Sheriff-Coroner for Santa Cruz County. When Sheriff Hart ran for re-election in 2022, the term was expected to be four years. However, the legislature extended the term to six years to align Sheriffs and District Attorneys' elections with the presidential cycle.

Sheriff Hart explained, “I originally planned to complete my four-year term, but the term was extended to six years after the election. I knew I wasn’t going to complete a six-year term, so I have decided that December 2024 would be a good time for my family and me to retire.” He added, “The Sheriff's Office is in excellent shape, with outstanding staff members dedicated to serving our community. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as the Sheriff here for the past decade.”

Sheriff Hart began his career as a deputy sheriff in 1988 and has held every rank in the office, eventually being elected Sheriff in June 2014. Under his leadership, the office has navigated seven federally declared disasters, the line of duty death of Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, the CZU Lightning Complex Fire, protests following George Floyd's murder, the COVID-19 pandemic, and most recently the fentanyl crisis. Crime rates in the county's unincorporated areas are at a record low, less than half the state average, which Sheriff Hart attributes to effective community policing policies.

Sheriff Hart stated, “I have lived in Santa Cruz County my entire life. This is a wonderful place to live and work, and I wouldn’t have traded this career for anything.” He also endorsed Undersheriff Chris Clark as the most qualified person to succeed him as Sheriff.

RESCUED | Lukas McClish was found alive in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Forman Creek after being reported missing on June 11.

Tune in at 5 and 6 tonight to see our exclusive interview with Lukas.

Read more: https://www.ksbw.com/article/missing-man-california-boulder-creek-found-alive-9-days/61208802

https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2024/05/27/guest-commentary-open-letter-a-call-for-inclusion-during-pride/

Guest Commentary | Open letter: A call for inclusion during Pride “Unfortunately, the Deputy Sheriffs Association recently learned that the board of Santa Cruz Pride has voted not to allow any uniformed law enforcement personnel to march in the parade, citi…

Amazing work!

𝙈𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙢 𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙢!

We wanted to highlight some great work by one of our deputies.

Recently, an elderly victim in our community was scammed out of more than $46,900. The scammers posed as an Apple employee and convinced the victim that several of her accounts, including her bank account had been compromised. To protect those accounts, the suspect demanded she transfer money into another account.

Deputy Galindo completed many layers of follow up and successfully froze the suspect’s bank account and recovered the entirety of the loss. This is one of the largest recovery of funds returned to a victim in some time. This would not have been possible without Deputy Galindo’s quick response and her compassionate dedication to helping elderly victims.

Sadly, elderly victims make up approximately 70% of fraud victims in our community. We recognize not everyone has social media to see the warnings we put out, so we’ve created magnets and flyers with information about the most common scams we are seeing and what to do if you get a phone call with someone demanding money or personal information.

These are also available at all of our service centers throughout the county in english and spanish — so if you know someone who could benefit from one of these, come visit us and pick one up!

PICK UP LOCATIONS
Boulder Creek
13210 Central Avenue (State Route Hwy 9)
Boulder Creek, CA 95006

Felton
6062 Graham Hill Rd., Suite A & B
Felton, CA 95018

Live Oak
5200 Soquel Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95062

Aptos
171 Aptos Village Way
Aptos, CA 95003

South County
790 Green Valley Road
Watsonville, CA 95076