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Sheriff Mark Danels outlines search-and-rescue success, care team, jail-district outreach and community policing
Summary
Sheriff Mark Danels recounted a successful search for a missing 75-year-old, described the sheriff's office mental-health care team, ongoing jail district meetings, a Parker Canyon Lake burglary investigation aided by public video tips, and staff promotions and quarterly awards.
Sheriff Mark Danels spoke on KWCD's First Watch about multiple Cochise County public-safety items, including a search-and-rescue case, community policing efforts, the county's mental-health care team and outreach related to ongoing jail-district discussions.
Danels said deputies, a helicopter and Graham County partners located a missing 75-year-old Wilcox-area woman who was found about seven miles south on a rural road toward Douglas. "We're very fortunate to find her and I'm so glad we got her back to her family," he said on air. The sheriff described the incident as a multi-agency response involving local partners and praised the search-and-rescue team.
He described the Cochise County Sheriff's Office care team as a no-cost mental-health response unit that is not composed of sworn officers. "These are experts in the field. These are not cops," Danels said, adding that residents can request the care-team response through dispatch and that the team helps with addiction and mental-health needs.
Danels said jail district meetings are ongoing; the scheduled series continues with rescheduled sessions in Benson and an additional Sierra Vista meeting. He told listeners to expect meetings on “the sixteenth and I believe the nineteenth” (dates given on-air) and said meeting recordings and other materials are available on the Cochise County website.
On property crime, Danels recounted a burglary at Parker Canyon Lake where shelter and marina surveillance video drew more than 7,000 views after being posted publicly. Tips led investigators to identify three people, two of whom were processed; Danels said the third person, who drove the vehicle, was not arrested because he did not enter the property or take items. "People participated, see something, say something, and came about so quickly and it was such a success," he said.
Danels also described internal recognitions: quarterly awards for detention staff, volunteers and sworn deputies, and several promotions. He named promoted staff including Art Estrada (promoted to corporal, civil division), Clayton Terrassas, Corporal Gerhard Wesolek (detention promotion), animal control officer Natalie McClure, detention staff Brisenia Pacheco, volunteer Mark Prince and Deputy Joshua Darpino.
On traffic enforcement and community policing, Danels said he personally conducts traffic stops: "I've made 88 traffic stops since..." this year that were documented as actual stops (not counting warnings), and recounted stops where drivers exceeded 100 miles per hour. He framed the activity as part of a working sheriff's approach to rural policing.
Danels closed with a public-safety reminder about crosswalks, noting drivers must not impede pedestrians in crosswalks and that doing so is a traffic violation. He also highlighted local charitable efforts such as "Trucking for Tommy," which raised more than $24,000 for medical bills.
