The El Paso County Sheriff's Office, in an effort to enhance our level of service to the approximately 200,000 citizens who reside and work in unincorporated El Paso County and the countless others who commute through our jurisdiction each day, recently launched the Community Service Specialist (CSS) Unit.
The CSS Unit is comprised of uniformed civilian personnel who respond to calls for service that come in to our Communications Center that are not in-progress and that do not involve injuries to involved persons. Some types of calls for service to which they might respond include Motor Vehicle Theft, Burglary, Trespass into a vehicle or onto property, Theft, Identify Theft/Fraud, Criminal Mischief, Lost/Found Property, Abandoned Vehicles, and Traffic Control for accident scenes or other hazards. CSS Unit personnel do not have arrest authority, but will file criminal investigation reports, collect evidence, and support our sworn personnel in a variety of other ways.
The unit was launched with 2 initial members who began their training in June of 2022. This training consisted of over 140 hours and covered Colorado state statutes, EPSO policies and procedures, report writing, interviewing, and criminal investigation. Additionally, they were certified to carry pepper spray and received self-defense training. Furthermore, they were certified in the 40-hour Crisis Intervention Training (CIT). Their initial 140 hours of training was then enhanced with 6 weeks of field training during which they were taught and coached by a sworn Patrol Division deputy.
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office believes the CSS Unit will be a valuable force multiplier for our Patrol Division, allowing our deputies to spend more time engaged in proactive community policing by being mobile and visible in and around the state's most populated county and by easing the burden non-emergent calls for service place on our sworn deputies' ability to provide timely response to emergency situations. The unit is expected to grow next year, although a time frame for that expansion has not been identified.
In an effort to familiarize the public with the CSS Unit, attached to this media release is a photo of its two members in uniform in front of an EPSO vehicle with the specific Community Services markings they will utilize for their operations.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office stands committed to providing innovative, valued, and quality service to our neighbors here in the Pikes Peak region, and the initiation of our new CSS Unit further exemplifies this commitment.
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