In 1976 I went to work for the Ventura Police Department as a Cadet. I worked in all divisions of the department and was eventually hired as a Dispatcher.

As a Dispatcher I answered emergency telephone lines, maintained contact with the officers in the field and was responsible for all the officers’ safety in the field.

While talking to a victim on the telephone and directing officers to the location where they were needed I was expected to keep track of the other dozen or so officers making traffic stops and handling other calls.

While working for the Department as a Dispatcher I was sworn in as a Reserve Police Officer and regularly assigned to patrol duties with another officer. The Ventura Police Department utilized their reserves as back up officers riding with regular police officers.

In 1979 I transferred to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department as a Reserve Deputy Sheriff having been granted a P.O.S.T. (Peace Officers Standards and Training) certificate as a Level I reserve officer. As a Level I Reserve Deputy I was assigned patrol and emergency back-up assignments alone or with another reserve or regular deputy.

During my last three years I also worked as the School Resource Officer talking to school children throughout Ventura County. I designed the program as a supplement to the DARE program. It occurred to me that DARE targeted junior high and in many parts of the county the children had already grown leery of the officers long before then. Our
program was geared toward grade K-3.

Although I was told by teachers that I would be lucky to keep the children’s attention for more than a few minutes, no session ever ended in less than an hour and most only because I had another class scheduled.

In 1989 I was selected to serve a year on the Ventura County Grand Jury. That was a yearlong commitment that required 30 to 40 hours of service per week. It was during that year that I decided that I really enjoyed the law and decided to go to law school instead of returning to the Sheriff’s Department.