Sheriff's district to open

> Picture Rocks area to gain deputies, office as of Aug. 20 <

By Dale Quinn

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

The Pima County Sheriff's Department will open its Tucson Mountain District — with headquarters at 6265 N. Sandario Road — on Aug. 20, nearly doubling the number of deputies who patrol the community.

Lt. Victor Fontes will be the newly formed district's commander. Nineteen deputies, three sergeants, an administrator, a sheriff's auxiliary volunteer and Fontes will operate out of the district office.

"Is the crime going to go away? No," Fontes said. "But we're going to be more of a presence."

The Picture Rocks area currently gets law enforcement from the Foothills District, which extends from Campbell Avenue on the east to the Indian reservations on the west and from Tucson city limits on the south to the Pinal County line on the north.

Fontes said it's the Sheriff's Department's largest and busiest patrol area. Ten deputies now patrol Picture Rocks, but those deputies get called away from the area when there's a major incident elsewhere in the district.

Citizens' efforts bear fruit

The Tucson Mountain District will greatly reduce the number of times deputies get called away from their patrols in Picture Rocks, Fontes said.

Picture Rocks resident Greg Mattison has lobbied for more law enforcement in the area since May 2002. After noticing an increase in crime in his community, Mattison decided to do something about it.

He began working with his neighbors, and now their effort has come to fruition.

Mattison is optimistic about the situation, but four years ago it was a different story. Methamphetamine use and the crime that comes along with it permeated the rural community, he said.

Speeding and drunken driving occurred frequently, said Picture Rocks resident Malcolm Schmerl. When neighbors called the Sheriff's Department with complaints, it took awhile for them to respond, "if they even bothered," Schmerl said.

At one point, Mattison considered leaving the community he's called home for 25 years. He changed his mind and decided to stay when he realized crime and drug use would be a problem in any neighborhood.

"Any community we were going to be a part of, there are always things to be done and battles to be fought," Mattison said. "And this community's really worth the fight."

He and his neighbors formed Citizens for Picture Rocks to address the crime problems in the community. The group — which has since expanded into other areas of community building — wanted to increase the presence of and foster dialogue with law enforcement.

Now they've made progress toward their goal.

"We're headed slowly in the right direction," Mattison said.

Dealing with slow responses

Picture Rocks residents have often complained about slow response times from the Sheriff's Department, said Picture Rocks Fire District Chief Kathy Duff-Stewart.

Having been involved with the fire district for more than 20 years, she has firsthand experience with the challenges of delivering emergency services in the rural community.

She said she is hopeful the new district's headquarters will help deal with that problem.

"I think just knowing they have an office out there is going to make people feel safer," she said.

Many Picture Rocks residents have had a negative view of law enforcement because they didn't know the deputies patrolling their area. So Mattison said he wants to continue to keep residents involved in crime prevention.

Citizens for Picture Rocks is looking for 10 residents to become sheriff's auxiliary volunteers. Those volunteers will be trained to direct traffic and could do paperwork when needed so deputies remain available to respond to emergencies.

The volunteers must undergo a thorough background check before working for the Sheriff's Department. Mattison said six people already have expressed interest in becoming volunteers.

They'll provide an important link between the deputies and other Picture Rocks residents, he said.

"We're going to have more community cooperation with law enforcement than we've ever had before."

● Contact reporter Dale Quinn at 618-1924 or dquinn@azstarnet.com

All content copyright © 1999-2008 AzStarNet, Arizona Daily Star and its wire services and suppliers and may not be republished without permission. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution, or retransmission of any of the contents of this service without the expressed written consent of Arizona Daily Star or AzStarNet is prohibited.