Maricopa County Sheriff's Office - Specialized Units

Specialized Units

Lake Patrol -

In addition to patrolling the unincorporated areas, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is responsible for patrolling the lakes and waterways in the recreational areas within the county. The Lake Patrol Division is responsible for law enforcement services in the recreational areas of Tonto National Forest and Lake Pleasant Regional Park. This area includes Saguaro, Canyon, Apache, Bartlett and Horseshoe Lakes as well as the Lower Salt and Verde River recreational areas, Four Peaks, Superstition, Mazatzals, Camp Creek and Seven Springs recreational and wilderness areas. The total area of responsibility is over 1,000 square miles (2,600 km2), which are visited by an estimated 1.5 million people every year.

The Lake Patrol Division is composed of highly trained deputy sheriffs who operate four-wheel-drive vehicles, all-terrain vehicles, patrol boats, jet skis and an air boat to perform their duties. All Lake Patrol deputies are certified Emergency Medical Technicians and several are Paramedics. The division also has a detective section which investigates crimes, deaths and boating accidents on the lakes and rivers.

Trails Division -

The Trails Division has the responsibility for law enforcement services in the recreational and wilderness areas of the Maricopa County Parks. The total area of responsibility consists of over 120,000 acres (490 km2) that are visited by approximately 1.8 million persons each year. The Maricopa County parks system is the largest regional parks system in the nation, and includes the areas of Buckeye Hills Recreation area, Cave Creek Regional Park, Estrella Mountain Regional Park, Lake Pleasant Regional Park, McDowell Mountain Regional Park, San Tan Mountain Regional Park, Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area, The Desert Outdoor Center at Lake Pleasant, Usery Mountain Regional Park, and White Tank Mountain Regional Park.

The Trails Division is also composed of highly-trained deputies who operate four-wheel drive vehicles and all-terrain vehicles, and also uses bicycles, mounted, and foot patrol to perform their duties.

Aviation Division -

The Aviation Division provides airborne law enforcement support to uniformed patrol, Lake Patrol, Search and Rescue operations, narcotics enforcement, extraditions and SWAT operations.

The Aviation Division is staffed with a Commander, Helicopter Flight Operation Supervisor, Fixed Wing Supervisor, Director of Maintenance, fourteen sworn Deputies, five Civilians, two instructor pilots and an Administrative Coordinator. The Division is a 24 hour a day 7 days a week operation and employs four helicopters and two fixed-wing aircraft.

The flagship of the division is a Bell 407 helicopter with a call sign of "FOX 1." This helicopter is equipped with FLIR (Forward Looking Infra Red), stabilized binoculars, Ultichart moving map and an SX-5 night sun spotlight. This helicopter performs direct patrol, search and rescue operations, narcotics surveillance and photo missions.

In addition "FOX-1", the Aviation Division operates "FOX 4," a Bell Military OH-58 helicopter acquired in 1996 from the Defense Reutilization Program. It was completely rebuilt and placed into service in July, 1998, and is also used for direct patrol, search and rescue operations, narcotics surveillance and photo missions.

"FOX 5" is a Schweitzer TH-55 helicopter acquired from the Defense Reutilization Program. "FOX-5" has been fully restored and is the primary training aircraft for MCSO Aviation personnel. This is the same type of aircraft used by the military to train pilots since the 1960s.

For fixed wing, the division utilizes a single engine Cessna 206 and a twin engine PA-31 Piper Navajo. Both aircraft are housed at Glendale Airport and are used primarily for extraditing fugitives from other states. Fixed wing aircraft are also used for narcotics and smuggling surveillance missions.

K9 Unit -

The Sheriff's Canine Unit includes 25 canines with various specialties, including narcotics, explosive ordnance, cadaver, and patrol. The unit's staff consists of one Sergeant, ten Deputies, five Detectives and four Detention Officers.

All canines trained in narcotic detection are capable of finding and aggressively alerting on cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamines, heroin, and their derivatives. Collectively, they have assisted in the seizure of over 5.3 million dollars in narcotic tainted monies. All canines trained in explosive ordnance detection are trained to detect and passively alert on 13 different odors. The tobacco canine is trained to find and aggressively alert on all forms of tobacco.

Patrol dogs are trained in building searches, area searches, officer protection, crowd control, trailing, and provide a strong psychological deterrent to certain types of criminal misconduct. Our cadaver canine is trained to find and passively alert on decaying human tissues, bones, and fluids. Our bloodhounds are utilized to track down suspects and locate missing or lost individuals.

Canine team members typically work patrol operations during peak activity hours, usually from about 6 PM to 4 AM. They also augment SWAT operations; provide contractual services for narcotic detection at several local schools; provide narcotic and explosive ordnance detection for not only our office, but for other local, state, and federal agencies; they are on call 7 days a week 24 hours a day, and conduct over 100 public relations demonstrations annually.

The utilization of police canines provides law enforcement with a non-lethal means of apprehending dangerous criminal offenders; detecting intruders and alerting handlers to their presence; pursuing, attacking and holding criminal offenders who resist apprehension; searching and clearing buildings and large open areas for criminals; tracking lost children or other persons; detecting the presence of certain narcotics, explosives, and tobacco products; locating deceased subjects, crime scenes, and minute physical evidence; and provide a strong psychological deterrent to certain types of criminal misconduct.