The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station is losing an exemplary figure of volunteer service this month. Santa Clarita resident Ric Bisarra has served the Santa Clarita Valley for the past seven years and is now leaving to serve his country.  

Ric Bisarra, now age 24, started his service to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station and the Santa Clarita community at the young age of 17.  

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Beginning with the Regional Occupational Program (ROP) through William S. Hart Union High School District at Saugus High School in 2003, Ric was accepted into the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Explorer program in August of that same year. He completed the sixteen-week Explorer Academy in December 2003, graduating from Class #71 at College of the Canyons.  

Following graduation, he was assigned to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station where he served the community as a Sheriff’s Explorer for the next four years, volunteering his time and energy at hundreds of community events throughout Santa Clarita. He rose to the rank of Captain in the Sheriff’s Explorer program.  

On October 15, 2007 he was recognized by then station Captain Jacques LaBerge for undertaking a substantial research project to determine necessary service needs of the station’s patrol areas. The project involved the review and analysis of thousands of calls for service, crime reports, and prisoner bookings in order to determine the best management of resources and timely service to Santa Clarita residents.  

When Ric aged out of the explorer program he didn’t stop there. He applied to become a Volunteer on Patrol for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station in November of 2008. He was accepted to the program, completed the Volunteer on Patrol training and began serving as extra eyes and ears, assisting deputies in the protection of our community.  

From 2008 to his departure from the program this month, Ric Bisarra contributed more than 880 volunteer hours as a Volunteer on Patrol, saving the City of Santa Clarita and the County of Los Angeles more than $20,000 in personnel costs.  

Ric served the past eight months as a part time paid youth mentor in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Youth Activities League (YAL) program in Val Verde.  

With the YAL, Ric was a mentor to more than 85 Val Verde youth enrolled in the program. He ran three activities including a teen issues video class, a tutoring class where he helped the youth with homework, and a physical education class.  

Ric leaves on February 22 for basic training with the United States Army at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.  

Despite the fact Ric Bisarra was volunteering countless hours to our community and the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, he managed to attend College of Canyons where he obtained enough credits to transfer to California State University, Northridge in 2007 and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in May of 2009.  

The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station thanks Ric Bisarra for his incredible service to our community!  

“I can’t say enough about Ric’s volunteer service to our station and the community,” said Captain Paul Becker of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. “We were fortunate to have him for as long as we did and we hope he will return to Santa Clarita as a Deputy Sheriff patrolling our streets one day! The community needs guys like him,” he concluded.