Hollister
– The San Benito County Sheriff’s Office named Rich Brown its
Deputy of the Year and Jose Garza its Correctional Officer of the
Year for 2006.
Hollister – The San Benito County Sheriff’s Office named Rich Brown its Deputy of the Year and Jose Garza its Correctional Officer of the Year for 2006.
The honor was awarded through peer nominations and voting, Sheriff’s Lt. Roy Iler said. The awards recognize Garza and Brown not only for their service as law enforcers, but their inspiration to other deputies, officers and Sheriff’s Office employees.
“These are the kind of guys we want to build our department around,” Iler said.
Brown, 52, has been the school resource officer for the Hollister School District for two years. He has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office for nine years. He also works as the office’s CPR instructor, Taser instructor and Correctional division’s firearm instructor.
Although Brown worked patrol and was the San Juan Bautista deputy for seven years, he enjoys being the school resource officer.
“It’s more challenging than just simple patrol,” Brown said. “With the school you have the beginnings of a problem. So you have a lot of opportunity for prevention.”
Brown said he has the chance to engage students at a young age and to continue working with troubled individuals through their years of adolescence. Brown also works with the San Benito County Gang Task Force on gang prevention.
“We’re trying to reach out to the kids before they end up in jail,” Brown said.
Brown knew he wanted to be in law enforcement from an early age. When he was 10 years old, he was visiting his ailing grandmother at a Chicago hospital. The young Brown was taking a nap on a bench when a Chicago police officer hit him across the feet with a baton and told him to move.
“At that time I said ‘I’d like to do that job and not do it like that,'” Brown said.
One night when Brown was a young man working as a bouncer, he went on a sandwich run. He came across an elderly man who had been beaten and was lying bloody on the ground. The man turned out to be a doctor who had saved Brown’s life when he was 2 years old. That event helped secure Brown’s desire to go into law enforcement, he said.
Garza, 42, has worked for the Sheriff’s office since 2004 as a correctional officer. Garza now works with the transportation team, running inmates to court dates and doctor’s appointments, and books suspects into the county jail.
He had previously worked for two years for the California Department of Corrections. Garza earned an award for the highest academic scores at the Correctional Core Academy in 2005, and was appointed squad leader based on his leadership skills.
Garza knew he wanted to be in law enforcement at an early age as well. He grew up in Gilroy and had several Pop Warner football coaches who were involved in law enforcement. He said the coaches were always willing to lend a hand or offer a ride after practice.
“Depending on what neighborhood you grow up in, cops are seen as the bad guys,” Garza said. “But then you get to know some of them.”
The most challenging aspect of Garza’s job, he said, is dealing with suspects when they are first booked into the jail.
“We try to help them out and make them feel more comfortable,” Garza said.
Undersheriff Pat Turturici said many of the inmates have commented on how well the jail is run and how they are treated.
“Jose does a good job treating people with dignity and respect,” Turturici said.
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected].
