The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Reserve Deputy program was begun by former Sheriff Leland B. Smith in 1980, beginning with 6 citizen volunteers who were commissioned by the Sheriff for the purpose of assisting the regular deputies and to augment manpower in times of need.

Prior to the formal adoption of the reserve program, Sheriff Lee Smith (as well as his predecessor, Sheriff Bob Hansen) commissioned "Special Deputies." There were several that worked for Crown Zellerbach, for instance, that patrolled the water line that were special deputies. There was a special deputy that took care of the west end of the county and one or two down in the south county.

The first reserve deputies were trained in house and it wasn’t until 1985 that anyone was sent to a regional reserve academy. Today all reserve law enforcement officers are required to attend a 220-hour academy and become certified by the State Criminal Justice Training Commission.

From that beginning, over 60% of the present staff of deputies started as Reserve Deputies in Jefferson County, including past Sheriff Pete Piccini.

In the early 1990’s, Sheriff Mel Mefford started the Marine Patrol program and the first patrol boat was purchased by the Sheriff’s Office. Up until that time Deputies used their own boats for rescue or recovery calls, or dive details.

The Marine Patrol unit at the time was run by a single reserve deputy and in the next several years, other reserve deputies were sent to marine patrol training to augment the unit. It wasn’t until the senior marine patrol reserve deputy was hired as a full time officer that marine became a responsibility of a full time; paid deputy, up till then it was a reserve detail that counted toward the monthly patrol time commitment. Today the marine patrol is still largely done by reserves and presently there are three trained and certified marine patrol officers in the reserve unit.

In addition to basic training, today’s individual Reserve Deputies have also trained and been qualified in any number of areas including: Rescue and Recovery Diver, Hostage Negotiations, Crisis Intervention, Marine Patrol, Ham Radio, Critical Incident Stress Management, specialized computer certification, Child Safety Seat Inspections, EMT, Advanced Individual Firearms Training and Specialized Weapons Training.