About The Division
The law enforcement profession in the state of California has become complex with many bottlenecks and roadblocks to navigate as a result of local ordinance, state law, federal law, and case law. The expertise and specialization to address a variety of issues of high public concern have eclipsed the capability of the frontline uniformed Patrol Deputy. To properly address these issues and successfully solve them, requires the expertise of Deputies assigned to units who are highly trained, specialized, and subject matter experts in a particular field.
These specialized units formerly resided within the Patrol Division but due to a massive span of control for one Division Captain, conflicting missions, and a demand from the public to solve of variety of complex problems, the Special Services Division (SSD) was birthed, The SSD contains four key units. These units address community policing in micro beats, street crimes, quality of life, and an intelligence apparatus. The Community Car Program provides community-oriented policing to identified communities within the county, AGNET has a street crimes mission, CRU is focused on quality of life, and Crime Analysis is the intelligence apparatus for the Sheriff’s Office.
The foundation of the Special Services Division is policing that is intelligence-based, evidenced-based, and data-based. Measuring effective outcomes otherwise known as “bringing the receipts” is critical.
Captain Arthur Harty
Division Commander
Units and Teams
Community revitalization unit (CRU)
The mission of the Community Revitalization Unit is to strategically identify and address community reported blight-related issues within the County. These issues include Homeless Outreach, Abatement, Illegal Dumping, and other quality of life issues. The members of the Community Revitalization Unit work closely and liaisons with Mental Health Professionals to provide the best level of service to community members and their families who are in crisis. The Community Revitalization Unit is members of the Homeless Encampment Response Team and Illegal Dumping Task Force, both of which are County Wide Teams partnering to solve these issues together.
Ordinance compliance unit (ocu)
The Ordinance Compliance Unit is responsible for ensuring that legal commercial cannabis operations comply with San Joaquin County Ordinances Title 4, Title 9, and California State Law. To ensure compliance, the Ordinance Compliance Unit is involved in the planning stages of these projects to ensure public safety for the community as well as the employees. The Ordinance Compliance Unit ensures that a background check is conducted of the operators and they are free of any disqualifying criminal convictions. Finally, the Ordinance Compliance Unit conducts spot checks of these facilities to ensure they are continuing to comply with Ordinance codes and State Law.
Agricultural, gangs, and narcotics enforcement team (agnet)
The Agriculture, Gang, and Narcotics Enforcement Team (AGNET) is a hybrid unit that investigates crimes related to those areas. The unit is formed with detective-level personnel who collaborate together to proactively mitigate agricultural-related crimes, gang activity, and street-level narcotics sales and possession. This unit is also responsible for general enforcement within high crime areas within the county and is commonly assigned to locate and apprehend wanted persons from high profile or violent related crimes.
Homeless Outreach
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office recognizes the concerns of the community relating to the homeless population. These concerns range from private and public property encampments, trespassing on and destruction of private property, discarded garbage, drug and medical waste, and mental health issues. The Sheriff’s Office knows the homeless epidemic’s challenges and The sheriff’s Office is (determined) to work to ensure the community’s rights are upheld.
To learn more about our Homelessness Outreach programs and how we are helping out the community please visit our Homeless Outreach page.
Programs