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Crash Investigator
Crime Technicians
Dive Team
Emergency Services Unit
Honor
Guard
K-9 unit
Mounted Division
Snowmobile Patrol
Click on
blue underlined links for more
information.
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The Van Buren County Sheriff's Office is supported by numerous
special units that assist in the professional operation of the
department.
There are
three groups of volunteers that not only support our agency, but
also other agencies and all citizens in our county. They are the Van
Buren County Mounted Division, the Van Buren County Victim Services
Unit and the Van Buren County Reserve Deputies. We have a total of
54 volunteers in these units that assist victims of crimes, augment
our full-time employees in law enforcement and security details.
Crash
Investigator
Deputies Brian
Matthews and Kyle Romeo are certified Traffic Crash Reconstructionist.
They have
attended many sessions which qualify them to
make detailed investigations into tire marks, minimum speed
calculations, vehicle vaults, vehicle lamps as well as other areas
of crash data.
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Crime
Technicians
This unit
consists of 6 deputies who are certified Crime Scene Technicians.
These deputies are responsible for processing the scene of crimes
and also the processing of certain evidence to the crime lab. |
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Dive Team
As the Sheriff's
Office is responsible for all waters within the County (113 Lakes in
which 78 have access), the dive team performs search and rescue
operations. The dive team will also search for evidence as needed.
The dive team has 7 active, certified divers, along with 3 support
personnel. The dive team not only is responsible for jurisdiction of
all the inland lakes, but a stretch of Lake Michigan between Allegan
and Berrien Counties. |
Emergency
Services Unit
The Emergency Services Unit (ESU) consists of 15 certified officers,
Including 2 liaison officers and 2 team leaders. The ESU is
available to all county law enforcement agencies, but is mainly used
by the Narcotic's Division in the execution of search warrants and
apprehension of wanted subjects. All officers are highly trained in
their specific function and continue to train on a monthly basis. |
Honor Guard
The Honor Guard is a new unit formed by the Sheriff's Office. The
Honor Guard consists of 6 members and will perform duties as needed
at Memorial services, parades, special occasions, and funerals. All
6 officers will soon be trained in proper protocol and procedure and
are looking forward to functioning in their professional capacity
for their special duty. |
K-9 Unit
Deputy Kevin
VanBrussel (269-657-3101), Sergeant Scott Schmitt (269-657-3101 Ext.
828) and Deputy Tony Evans (269-657-3101 Ext. 802) are the K-9
officers for the department.
Deputy VanBrussel's partner, Xack, is a male German Shepherd
born on July 7th, 2001. Xack is certified in tracking and drug
detection, and already has numerous felony arrests and apprehensions
to his credit. Deputy Schmitt's partner is Xago. Sergeant Schmitt
and Xago are also credited with numerous felony arrests and
apprehensions. Xago is also certified in tracking and drug
detection.
Deputy Evan's partner is Goliath which is also a male German
Shepherd, and is a tracking and drug dog that is already also
credited with several drug related arrests and apprehensions.
Xago is the brother to Xack Vom Schafer See, in which both
K-9's were acquired through Schafer Lake Kennels in Lawrence.
Goliath has the same father as Xack and Xago and was purchased in
Indianapolis, Indiana.
All three K-9's will assist local and State Police agencies
when needed. Xack, Xago, and Goliath are great additions and members
of the Sheriff's Office. |
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Snowmobile Patrol
Annual Report 2008 - The
Snowmobile Division patrolled 285 (221) hours, made 656 (266)
contacts, issued 29 (23) citations, gave 97 (75) verbal warnings,
and investigated 28 (8) complaints.The annual
Department of Natural Recourses (DNR) grant provides funding for
wages, officer equipment, two snowmobiles, and trailer so that
officers can patrol the trails within the county. |
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