OUR HISTORY

In 1978 the Pima County Sheriff’s Department introduced the Citizen Bear to Green Valley. The Citizen Bear was comprised of Green Valley volunteers who facilitated the use of Citizen Band radios for communication. At this time, the role of the Citizen Bear in the community was limited to search operations and home visits. Although volunteerism was in its infancy at this time, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department was a national leader. With that in mind, it was no surprise that Sheriff Dupnik decided to expand volunteerism even further. Sheriff Dupnik tasked a group of individuals to develop a larger more comprehensive group of volunteers. The focus was to develop a program which would model the Green Valley Citizen Bear group while serving all of unincorporated Pima County. The initial progression was slow; however, the department soon learned that the talent of the volunteers vastly exceeded our expectations. The Citizen Bear program evolved into a new concept of volunteerism. This evolution also prompted a change in the name, our volunteers were now known as the Pima County Sheriff’s Department Auxiliary Volunteers, Incorporated. It did not take long for the responsibilities of this volunteer organization to expand far beyond what was initially anticipated. Following are a few examples:

1982 Crime Prevention Education
1983 Home Security Presentations
1984 Neighborhood Watch
1984 Fingerprinting
1985 Generalized Patrol Operations