Community Attends Annual Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station Open House • The Malibu Times

Community members were able to meet and greet with various public safety units

By Samantha Bravo

From the time of Malibu

The Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station held its annual open house over the weekend, giving community members the opportunity to meet with their local law enforcement officers, discuss issues public safety and to visit the sheriff's department.

Brian Knott, with the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriffs' Community Relations Team, said the annual event is held to allow the community to meet the different vendors.

“We have everyone from the CERT team, we invite the fire department, we have the water district, we have different vendors,” Knott said. “It’s a family event, bringing the family out.”

Knott estimated 500 people attended.

“Every year it gets bigger and bigger, and every year we try to do better and better,” Knott said.

Present at the open house were Commander Mark Reyes and Captain Jennifer Seetoo, members of the community and families of the department.

“It’s a great place to be today, I know a lot of people brought their family members, it’s awesome,” Reyes said.

Since contracting with the California Highway Patrol, Reyes said, “Traffic and law enforcement is their cup of tea; and when you see a CHP officer, everyone slows down, so having these cars on PCH is a great idea; I believe they are doing great work and making a big impact.

Reyes said Seetoo did a great job as captain.

“Captain. Seetoo is loved in this community,” Reyes said. “She knows all the key players on a first-name basis, so she does a great job running this station.”

For the open house, Reyes said he heard the miniature horses and SWAT team were a big success.

“It’s amazing how many jobs we have here,” he said. “We're hiring, and a lot of young kids don't realize all the opportunities we have within the Sheriff's Department.”

The event included equipment and booths from Malibu Search and Rescue, Volunteers on Patrol, K-9 Unit, Sheriff's Mounted Posse (mounted patrols), Mini Therapy Horses, as well as horse rescue equipment, a helicopter of the sheriff's department and jail visits.

Mark Russo, team leader for Malibu Volunteers on Patrol (VOP), said he answered questions about the sheriff's and volunteer program.

“They don't realize that not only do they have patrols like us, but they have Arson Watch and they have the communications disaster, so they have a number of volunteer programs that they can put implemented,” Russo said. “A lot of it is informative about what you can do and how you can volunteer for the station.”

The event took place the week after Memorial Day weekend and Russo said parking was an issue.

“Summer always brings crowds for us, the beach was a little cloudy but we still saw a constant stream of people coming to the beach, the hiking trails are extremely busy so we were there,” Russo said. “When people park illegally, they often create obstacles and hazards on the road, so we do our best to educate and enforce the rules, but there were a lot of people, we had a lot of people in Malibu, but nothing serious happened.

The station is located at 27050 Agoura Road in Agoura. For more information, call the station at (818) 878-1808.

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