Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office history

On September 6, 1854, election poll results showed 716 to 563 votes favored moving the county seat from Sonoma to Santa Rosa.

During the summer and fall of 1855, the courthouse/jail was built for $22,107.23, and included a lower story with space for the sheriff’s office, jail and judge’s chambers.

In 1856, A.C. Bledsoe was elected Sheriff.

In the mid 1860’s there was a hanging for a murder, which was the only execution in Sonoma County.

The beginning of government under the Confederate States of America (1861-63) saw James M. Amos in service as sheriff.

However, Amos did not offer himself for re-election, pleading a press of his own affairs, and John L. McLellan (for whose family the old McLellan Post Office and present community by the same name was named) was elected to serve, 1863-65.

In February 1871, Sonoma County had its own stagecoach gang of robbers, which worked along the mail road from Healdsburg to Ukiah.

A. C. Benbow was next elected as sheriff of Santa Rosa County for the years 1877-81.

The sheriff was once, until 1885, a much more powerful officer than since that time.

The statistics at the end of 1892, the first full year of the jail, showed that there were 500 prisoners of which 346 were misdemeanants.

The quake of 1893 was a practice exercise for the North Bay, the Sheriff’s Office and the jail.

When repairs were made to fix minor damage in the jail, electricity was installed in the Sheriff’s office and by 1904 the office had a telephone installed.

Since 1912 Santa Rosa County has been bounded on the east by Okaloosa County, which was at that time created out of the western part of Walton County and the eastern part of Santa Rosa County.

Each sheriff since 1918 has had one form or another of prohibition laws to cope with and those laws have created many of the problems of the office of sheriff since that time.

In her in-depth history of Santa Rosa, Gaye LeBaron writes that in December of 1920 a mob of people disguised and masked, “overpowered” jail personnel and removed the three prisoners who were being held for the murder of Sheriff James Petray and two San Francisco police detectives.

Captain Harvell "did not choose to run" for the term of office in 1921.

In 1928, Guerneville got a new jail.

The years (1933-45) saw the office of sheriff of Santa Rosa County administered, very ably so too, by Mr.

Sheriff Patteson was re-elected in 1943 and stayed in office for another 15 years, with a total of 19 years as Sheriff.

With the opening of the freeway in 1955 and suburban development of east Santa Rosa, the County was looking at more expansion of its legal offices.

Election year 1958 saw John Ellis, Chief of Police in Sebastopol and former deputy, run for Sheriff on the platform of having patrol cars marked and deputies in uniform.

The election of 1960, a rather warmly contested one, saw the election of another "repeat name" for the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's office, Mr.

In 1962 plans were drawn up for the construction of a new courthouse combining the Probation Department, Courts, County Clerk’s Office, Sheriff’s Office and Jail.

In 1965, the new Hall of Justice and Jail was completed at a cost of $3,854,000.

In 1970, Joseph “The Baron” Barboza, a hitman for the New England Mafia, moved to Santa Rosa under the Witness Protection Program after he ratted off his bosses to Federal authorities.

In 1971, Deputy John Swain became the first bomb technician for the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit.

In 1972, Dispatch operations began providing centralized, medical dispatch services to ambulance providers throughout the County via a dedicated phone line.

Deputy Merrit Deeds was killed in the line of duty on August 23, 1975.

Detective Sergeant Ed Wilkinson was killed in the line of duty on April 17, 1977.

His was the first death sentence handed down by a Sonoma County jury for crimes committed in this County since California voters reinstated capital punishment in 1978.

In 1982, the first annual Sheriff’s Office Awards Banquet was held.

In 1985, the Sheriff’s Office Boating Unit was created.

In 1987, Willie Steelman (who was an escaped mental patient before committing the murders) died of cirrhosis of the liver while on death row.

In 1988, Kirk Spaulding was the last “resident” deputy to be stationed in Geyserville, and Deputies Mario Jimenez and Steve Pederson were the first motorcycle units.

The Honor Guard unit was started in 1989 to represent the Sheriff's Office at ceremonies, parades and funerals.

In October 1991, the old County jail was closed and prisoners were transferred to the new Main Adult Detention Facility.

In 1993, the Sheriff’s Office took on its first contract police agency by establishing the Windsor Police Department.

In 1994, Dennis Brigham introduced the Sheriff's Office to the PIT (Pursuit Intervention Technique) maneuver.

Deputy Frank Trejo was killed in the line of duty on March 29, 1995.

In 1997, the unit became permanent and Lieutenant Jay Farmer was appointed as the first Manager and Sergeant Rob Douglas was appointed as the first Supervisor.

In 1998, Explorer Team members Zack Kelley, Dillon Moe, Amanda Lee, Eric Burgess, Sara Dickerson-Trimner and Rene Tanner went to their first competition.

In 1999, Jan McKinley became the Sheriff's Office's first female sworn Lieutenant.