Special deputies are helping out where they can

Ron Chavez figures he clocks about 1,500 hours a year doing police work for the county. And he doesn't see one thin dime out of it. But that's not why Chavez dons his Valencia County Sheriff's jacket and heads out onto the desolate areas of the county. "For a remote area, a lot goes on," Chavez said. Chavez has had guns pulled on him, backed up sheriff's deputies following a wild gunfight between county residents, been surrounded by an angry mob trying to protect a cattle rustler and located a man who shot a sheriff's deputy, just to name a few incidents he's experienced. He backs up other deputies who may find themselves alone otherwise on remote county roads. Chavez started out talking with the sheriff about what was happening in the county and eventually parlayed that good working relationship into a special commission. Chavez, and his 30-year-old son, Jarrod, have special commissions with the sheriff's department. That allows them to carry guns, badges and effect arrests if needed. His career as an out-of-pocket policeman arose out of a concern for the community. He said that ranchers in the area used to suffer large losses of cattle, sometimes as many as 300 head a year between Chavez and a few of his neighbors. "There was a big problem with people killing cattle," he said. The cattle would be shot, run over and sometimes mutilated for no particular reason. Some people would kill the animals and cut off a quarter, Chavez said...read more