El Paso County Sheriff’s Office launches Community Service Specialist Unit

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- The El Paso County Sheriff's Office (EPCSO) recently launched the Community Service Specialist (CSS) Unit. 

As the largest county in the state, with around 200,000 people to protect and serve, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office says it's introduced this new unit to help respond to non-emergent calls for service.

"The Specialists are actually going to be out in our community every day responding to what we call 'cold' or 'not in progress,' calls for service that are coming in," said Sergeant Jason Garrett, with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. "Everything from a residential burglary, to an abandoned vehicle, to somebody waking up in the morning and their car was broken into. No suspect information, nothing going on like that. They will be able to actually show up, investigate that, take a report, collect any evidence that might exist, and get that information to our patrol deputies, our crime analysts, whoever that may be, to follow up on that information as they see fit."

The Sheriff’s Office hopes this will be able to free up patrol deputies to focus on other pressing situations.

"A lot of these types of calls that our Specialists are going to be on are important for us to respond to, certainly, but they take up a lot of time," said Sgt. Garrett. "They're going to be able to free up our patrol deputies to get out and do some of that more proactive policing on a more frequent basis.”

There’s also a hope that this position will appeal to those who feel a sense of duty, but maybe aren’t ready to commit to a full career in law enforcement.

"There are some things that go into the daily life of a law enforcement officer, some of the dangerous activity that we face, and things that just don't appeal to some folks," said Sgt. Garrett. "But, some people do want to serve in a capacity, and this certainly affords folks that opportunity.”

Right now, there are two specialists in the unit that have been employed since June, but EPCSO does plan to expand the unit to more people.

The training for the position consists of over 140 hours covering Colorado state statutes, EPCSO policies and procedures, report writing, interviewing, and criminal investigation. 

Specialists are also certified to carry pepper spray and receive self-defense training. They are also certified in the 40-hour Crisis Intervention Training (CIT). 

After the initial 140 hours of training comes 6 weeks of field training, where they are taught and coached by a sworn Patrol Division deputy.

EPCSO says if people are interested in becoming deputies, there is also a path to that promotion through the Community Service Specialist Unit.