| History
of Sheriff's Department in Santa Clarita Valley
The Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department has been providing Law
Enforcement and temporary jail services for the resident's
of this valley for over 100 years.
In 1888,
twelve years after the town of Newhall was established, the
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors proposed the erection
of a jail building in Newhall. This Jail was to be 12 feet
x 20 feet. The location for our first "Jail" was
in Newhall, on Spruce Street. This jail remained in use until
1906, when a new jail was built.
In 1926,
the Newhall Substation #6 was established on San Fernando
Road. Deputy J.E.B. Stewart opened the station, which at the
time served the entire Northern portion of Los Angeles County.
The station was manned 24 hours a day by two Deputies. The
Newhall force originally included Deputies Howard, Fox, Ernst,
Stockwell, Knuss, Nester and Aikens. A news article in "The
Magnet" dated August 26, 1926 described the deputies
as: "A jolly bunch of fellows and very pleasant to meet---unless
your business with them is from the wrong end of a sawed off
shotgun."
Arrests
in those days ranged from "Auto Thievery" to traffic
enforcement to bank robberies. The Sheriff's Department fielded
two units for the entire area, and there was one resident
Deputy in Gorman.
The sub-station
was located at 24238 North San Fernando Road. This station
served the valley for many years, until the current Santa
Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station was opened in 1972.
Our current
Sheriff's Station is manned by over 140 Deputy Sheriff's.
The station has it's own Detective Bureau, Cobra Unit, Search
and Rescue, Community Relations, Patrol Deputies, Traffic
Investigators and many other personnel involved in the daily
operations of policing a city of over 130,000. We have grown
from a field force of two units in 1926 to a current field
patrol force over 20 patrol units at times.
The years
have shown tremendous growth within our Station. We now also
have specialized "Teams" of Deputies working to
build relationships between law enforcement and the community.
The C.I.T. Team and the C.O.P.S. Deputies are successfully
implementing the philosophy of Community Policing throughout
the City and County areas we serve.
|
