The San Benito County Sheriff’s Department is inviting the
public to attend a meeting about its off-road vehicle enforcement
program Wednesday from 7-8 p.m. at the County Administrative
Office, 481 Fourth Street.
The San Benito County Sheriff’s Department is inviting the public to attend a meeting about its off-road vehicle enforcement program Wednesday from 7-8 p.m. at the County Administrative Office, 481 Fourth Street.
During the 2001-2002 fiscal year, the sheriff’s department received a federal grant to help fund the costs of the department’s Off-Road Enforcement Unit, which focuses much of its attention on patrolling the San Benito River bottom for trespassers and illegal dumpers. The off-road unit has also helped Bureau of Land Management rangers in the Clear Creek Management Area.
Last October, the off-road unit helped rescue a missing Los Banos woman who had been wandering for two days in southern San Benito County without anything to eat or drink.
Deputies brought in a pair of specially equipped all-terrain vehicles acquired last year by the sheriff’s department. The vehicles allowed search teams to use old pack trails that normal patrol vehicles could not traverse.
The vehicles were purchased with funding from a state off-road vehicle grant. The sheriff’s department will apply to the state Parks Department’s Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division for another grant to help keep the program going.
