SAVP

SHERIFF’S AUXILIARY VOLUNTEER PATROL OR SAVP,

is a Sheriff’s Office volunteer unit dedicated to assisting the department in meeting its law enforcement mission. These citizen volunteers increase public safety, acting as additional eyes and ears for the Sheriff’s Office to identify crime problems in San Luis Obispo County communities. All members are trained in a variety of law enforcement topics, as well as provide supplemental patrol in neighborhoods and business districts. Aside from patrolling the streets, auxiliary patrol members also perform vacation house checks and assist in educating the public about safety. In 2021 the SAVP program was made up of 49 volunteers overseen by the SAVP Operations Coordinator, and a patrol chain of command.

Before becoming a Volunteer Patrol member, individuals attend and graduate from a 40-hour SAVP academy. The academy educates volunteers about crime prevention tactics, CPR and first aid, patrol and observation procedures, traffic control and radio communications. In 2021 SAVP onboarded 11 new volunteers. Two of the new members went to our North Station, two to our South Station, and 7 to our Coast Station. The Sheriff’s Auxiliary Volunteer Patrol is made up of people from all walks of life. The SAVP 2021 graduating class included a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office sergeant, retired educators, a healthcare manager, a non-profit outreach and development director and United States veterans.

Due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19, the program experienced some challenges this year. However, despite temporary program suspensions and cancelled events, volunteers still patrolled over 20,000 miles, and logged hundreds of hours.

In addition to regular SAVP duties, the program also includes a subset Graffiti Abatement Team. These individuals use a specially equipped vehicle to respond to locations of reported graffiti and either remove or cover it. This year one of the two graffiti abatement volunteers retired. SAVP is hopeful there will be additional individuals interested in assisting with this important work in the coming year.

SHERIFF’S AUXILIARY VOLUNTEER PATROL MEMBERS ARE AN INVALUABLE RESOURCE TO THE DEPARTMENT, HELPING MAKE OUR COMMUNITIES SAFER. THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE IS GRATEFUL FOR SAVP’S CONTRIBUTIONS AND POSITIVE REPRESENTATION OF THE SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT.