Traffic
The Traffic Unit enforces traffic laws, investigates motor vehicle collisions, assists motorists, and educates the public about reducing collisions and injuries.
Bomb Technician
The Bicycle Unit participates in parades and festivals. They also assist with teaching bicycle safety.
For more information about the Cadet Program click here
Citizens on Patrol
We Need Volunteers like you!
The Citizens on Patrol Unit is a valuable asset to the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office. These volunteers have a limited commission to enforce parking laws, keep the roadways clear of abandoned vehicles, assist in removing junk vehicles from private properties, assist law enforcement with traffic control at vehicle collisions, community events, and make vacation home security checks at the owners' request.
The Citizens on Patrol Unit is always in need of volunteers, especially in today's environment. Applications are now open for those interested in helping their fellow citizens by supporting the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office.
The Citizens on Patrol Unit serves as eyes and ears for law enforcement, reporting suspicious activity and safely supplements the Sheriff's presence throughout Kitsap County.
This is an ideal program for retirees who enjoy the camaraderie of fellow volunteers. Members of the Citizens on Patrol Unit receive extensive training, and, for safety, patrol with a buddy. Training, uniforms, and vehicles, are provided.
Volunteers must be able to pass extensive criminal and credit background checks (including a polygraph examination), have an excellent driving record, commit to at least 16 hours each month, attend monthly meetings, training sessions, and commit to a year of service. Full-time employment or military active duty will make achieving these time commitments difficult.
Click here for an information brochure.
If you would like to apply, fill out the application here.
Questions? Contact Kitsap County Volunteer Services at volunteer@kitsap.gov
Community Resource Officer
The Community Resource Officer (CRO) works with the community to help with outreach, concerns about crimes, and also helps with events within the community.
For more information about Crime Prevention click here
Crisis Negotiation Team
Includes: 1 lieutenant, 2 sergeants, 5 deputies, 5 outside agencies
Drone Operators
Field Training Unit
After completing basic training,
deputies
receive
a minimum of 24 hours of additional training per year. This
includes
legal
updates, patrol procedures, defensive tactics, etc.
Additionally, deputies who are
involved
in
specialty units attend
supplemental training. There are always trainings going on
for
the
various units of the
Sheriff’s
Office.
K-9 Unit
Our K-9s live with their handlers and are part of their families. The dogs love to play and work! The handlers and their K-9 partners undergo an exhaustive training regimen upon entrance to the program and continue to train on a weekly basis.
Marine Patrol
The mission of the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office Marine Services Unit is to provide quality, professional, regional marine law enforcement and rescue services tailored to our individual communities to improve public safety. The Sheriff's Office is responsible for over 300 miles of saltwater shoreline and five lakes. This includes parts of Hood Canal, Puget Sound, Dyes Inlet, Liberty Bay, Sinclair Inlet, Port Orchard Bay, Long Lake, Kitsap Lake, Tiger Lake, Panther Lake, and Mission Lake.
The owner or operator of any recreational boat is required to file a Boating Accident Report (BAR) if the boat is involved in an incident that results in:
1. A person's death or disappearance; or
2. Injury which requires medical treatment beyond first aid; or
3. Damage to the boat or other property exceeding $2000.00; or
4. Complete loss of the boat
The BAR can be found here
School Resource Officers
KCSO partners with the South Kitsap, North Kitsap, and Central Kitsap School Districts to provide School Resource Officers (SRO) throughout the schools. These partnership are very important to our agency and the schools.
Search and Rescue
The Sheriff's Office coordinates Search and Rescue ("SAR") missions within the unincorporated areas of Kitsap County, Washington. At the request of local police agencies, searches are also coordinated within city limits. Mutual aid for our neighboring counties and national parks is also provided. Typical SAR Missions Searching for:
> Missing children, disabled persons, or the elderly in suburban and rural locations.
> Searching for hikers, hunters, and other missing persons in forestlands.
> Assisting persons who are injured in forest areas not accessible by road.
> Searching for missing aircraft and locating radio distress beacons used by aircraft and boats.
> Searching for evidence of major crimes in outdoor settings.
> Recovering victims of drowning and other marine emergencies.
> Assisting with floods and other disasters.
The SAR program consists of six deputies, over 150 members of volunteer organizations, and support staff from the Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management. A person interested in becoming trained as a search and rescue volunteer should contact the Department of Emergency Management at 1.360.307.5870 or click here.
Volunteer Organizations
Explorer Search and Rescue "ESAR"
This is an organization comprised of teenage searchers and adult advisors. The primary focus is on general ground search techniques and building leadership skills of youth. They are the most active unit for searches within Kitsap County. The ESAR training program is recognized as beneficial for both teens and adults.
A specialized unit within ESAR is All Breeds Canine Search and Rescue (ABCSAR). As the name implies, all breeds of canines are accepted as long as they have the ability and desire to complete the mission. Due to the partnership with ESAR, ABCSAR is one of the only canine search groups that have youth handlers. ABCSAR members are required to complete the same training as all other ESAR Kitsap members, in addition to canine training. Becoming a certified team takes hundreds of hours devoted to training, and two types of search dogs are utilized: Trailing and Air Scent. Click here for their website.
Olympic Mountain Rescue "OMR"
This organization focuses on rescue activities in mountainous terrain. Although they are based in Bremerton, Washington, they are most active in the Olympic National Park. It is not uncommon for the OMR members to also lend assistance in other areas of the state. Click here for their website.
Underwater Search and Rescue Volunteers of Kitsap County "USRV"
USRV is an organization of volunteer scuba divers trained to perform underwater search and recovery missions. Like all the volunteer organizations, their members supply almost all of their equipment. Click here for their website.
Air Scent dogs
Air scent dogs are generally used in the wilderness and are trained to find any human in their assigned search area. Human scent can travel great distances, and the dogs are known to have led handlers more than 500 feet through dense underbrush to find a subject who would be impossible to see with the naked eye. The handler's role is to understand wind, weather, and terrain, and put their dog where it has the best chance of picking up this "air scent." Air scent searching is hard physical work, as a dog and handler might cover miles of difficult terrain during an assignment.
Trailing Dogs
Trailing dogs follow the scent of one specific person, and are generally used in urban environments where many people are present. The dog will ignore the scent of other persons and follow the trail of the desired subject. They can successfully follow trails that are 24 to 48 hours old, and some dogs have followed trails even older. Trailing dogs require a scent article from the person, usually clothing, that hasn't been touched by anyone else since it was worn. Trailing work is not as physically demanding as air scent, but it is much more mentally taxing for the dog. They have to remember the scent of the person they're seeking and find that amongst all the other human (and other) scents in an urban environment.
Human Remains Detection Dogs
It's a sad fact of life that some people are alone and in remote places when they pass away. Their families are left wondering what happened to them and how to provide a proper memorial service without the body. Human Remains Detection dogs, most commonly known as Cadaver Dogs, bring closure to families by finding the remains of their loved ones. Because they can locate blood and other decomposed body fluids, cadaver dogs also help police detectives locate the scenes of grisly crimes, or discarded evidence that might have been contaminated with blood. While not as physically demanding as air scent or as mentally taxing as trailing, Human Remains Detection can be emotionally draining for the handlers. In turn, dogs pick up on their handlers' distress and appear to suffer as well. Dog handlers have long believed that any distress on their part "travels right down the leash" to the dog.
Summary Links
ESAR
OMR
USRV
