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It’s a recent bright winter morning and Steve Ziegler is driving down a neighborhood street just south of Sierra Vista.

“You’re looking side to side, keeping an eye out for anything that might be out of place, but basically you’re showing the flag,” Ziegler said.

These daily patrols in more than a dozen neighborhood watch areas across the county are one of several duties of the Cochise County Sheriff’s Assist Team, an all-volunteer group that, for the last decade, has donated tens of thousands of man-hours to supporting the sheriff’s office.

“People look at this car and they rarely notice that it says assist team on the rear window. They see a sheriff’s unit,” said Ziegler, who is also the operations manager for the assist team.

The dozen or so assist team volunteers that work on patrols are outfitted with decommissioned vehicles formerly used by sheriff’s deputies, minus the sheriff’s emblem on the side and computer terminal on the interior. While assist team (or SAT) members are not law enforcement officers and cannot take any enforcement action, carry weapons or make arrests, their presence in these vehicles can often be enough to discourage any illicit activity.

“You’re just kind of looking for anything out of place. When you’ve patrolled an area long enough, you get to know what vehicles are supposed to be there, primarily. What’s not supposed to be there. Does this person need their gates locked all the time and now they’re open,” he said. “You just get to know your neighborhoods.”

Himself a retired firefighter and police officer from Massachusetts, Ziegler began volunteering with the assist team in 2007.

“I was looking around here for something to do. I looked at two or three different organizations and this one really fit with what I did and what I know. So I filled out an application, and lo and behold they signed me up,” he said.

In past award ceremonies celebrating their efforts, Cochise County Administrator Michael Ortega has said that the assist team’s volunteer hours have saved the county hundreds of thousands of dollars. Upward of $225,000 in 2009 alone.

“We’re not law enforcement. We do not enforce laws. We’re simply there as a force multiplier, for when they start to get stretched,” Ziegler said. “Instead of having a deputy standing in the middle of the road directing traffic, we come along, we take that post, and that allows the deputy to go and do what they need to do.”

After more than 30 years as an academy-trained officer, Ziegler admitted he still caught himself reaching for the siren in his vehicle on occasion.

“Sometimes that can be interesting, because you want to do what you can do, but just can’t do it,” he said. “Let me tell you, there’s been more times where my had has gone to that console to flip the lights on and I have to remind myself, ‘Nope, nope. Can’t do it.’ Old habits die hard I guess.”
While assist team members come from all walks of life, including former military personnel, physicians, business owners and more, most do share at least one thing in common.

“As you take a look at us, we’re all on Medicare. We’re not any spring chickens,” Ziegler said.
Staffing with those that have finished their careers does make scheduling easier, but, as Supervisor John Black says, there is no age requirement for those who want to volunteer.

“You don’t have to be retired to do this,” Black said back at the SAT office on Foothills Drive.
“We do have a couple of younger (volunteers) that are still working, and we work around their schedule,” Ziegler added.

Volunteers applying for the assist team go through much of the same process as actual sheriff’s deputies, including background checks, polygraph tests and patrol training, said SAT Administrator Linda Jones.

Once approved, volunteers will find themselves tasked with any number of duties, from helping out at the jail in Bibsee, directing traffic at collision scenes and checking houses of out-of-town residents and more.

“We can take care of things so the deputies are freed up to do law enforcement, crimes prevention, that sort of thing,” Black said.

Sheriff Larry Dever has remarked before how when it was first implemented, his deputies were not quick to warm up to the new volunteers.

“The police family, the law enforcement family, is a very close-knit, tight organization. That’s nationwide. I guess by virtue of what they do,” Ziegler said. “So I’m sure when they first started, there was a lot of questions and mistrust.”

In the years that followed, as deputies had the opportunity to work closer with SAT volunteers, he said they grew to appreciate the work they do.

“The deputies finally began to see that, ‘Hey, these guys aren’t bad. These guys know what they’re doing.’ So, yes, the level of trust right now is quite high,” Ziegler said.

As with first responders, many local volunteer groups were pushed to their limits during the Monument Fire last year, and the assist team was no exception.

“That week, I think eight of us put in close to 380 hours, which is a lot for just eight guys,”
Volunteers like Ziegler found themselves assisting with evacuations and manning roadblocks.

“I’d been a firefighter for maybe 25 years and I’ve never, ever seen anything like that. That was just incredible,” he said.

Just as they all come from different backgrounds, many volunteers have their own reasons for sticking with it for years.

“It’s just the camaraderie of being a with a group that is helping out in the community somewhere.” Jones said.

“What I like about it, is it’s a hands-on way to do that. It’s not hosting another fundraiser,” Black said. “I belong to other service organizations and it seems like all we’re doing is writing checks or promoting a fundraiser.”

For those that want to give back to their community by donating their time supporting the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, the Sheriff’s Assist Team is always looking for more volunteers. Those that are interested can call (520)803-3866 to learn more or request an application packet.