Sheriff's Office welcomes 10 new deputies to the custody | Local News

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office welcomed 10 new custody deputies after graduating from the Allan Hancock CORE Deputy Warden Academy.

Deputies were sworn in before Sheriff Bill Brown on May 22, prior to the opening ceremony.

CORE Custody Academy Class No. 16 included assistant guards Brian Bautista, Jesus Cabrera Jr., Raymundo Estrada, Luis Lopez-Zarate, Joaquin Quintero, Erik Sheets, Dylan Stockton, Nathan Valdovinos, Alex Vasquez and Matthew Woods.

Prison Chief Vincent Wasilewski, who gave the commencement address May 23, told the graduates that the most important thing to maintain in the years to come is empathy.

“With empathy, we can touch the lives of everyone we encounter and provide our services with the humanity and compassion that other members of our community deserve,” he said.

The class of 10 recruits completed 260 hours of instruction, which included emergency planning in a detention facility, report writing, ethics, investigative procedures, inmate classification, contraband detection , arrest and control, physical training and direct supervision training.

Custody Deputy Bautista earned class valedictorian; Custody Deputy Estrada received Santa Maria Elks Lodge Leadership Award; and Deputy Quintero received the Ron Battles Award from the Deputy Sheriffs Association.

Readers interested in a career in law enforcement or who know someone who is can visit SBSheriff.org to apply.