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The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office is pleased to officially welcome six new Sheriff’s deputies to its team. At a traditional ceremony held today, December 11, in Santa Maria, the deputies were among 24 recruits to graduate from the prestigious Allan Hancock College Basic Law Enforcement Academy, Class #107.  Of those graduates, six were sponsored by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.  They are Cliff Cabasag, James Carovano, Robert DeBarge, Paul Lewis, Shane Moore and Anthony Nunez.   The rest of the graduating class included recruits sponsored by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office, the Santa Maria Police Department and the UCSB Police Department.

In order to make it to graduation day, the recruits completed a rigorous 21-week program with more than 800 hours of instruction.  As part of the demanding physical element of the training, the recruits endured more than 2000 sit-ups over the five month period. In terms of mental challenges, the recruits engaged in 48 learning domains on a wide variety of topics from firearms, to scenarios, to report writing and academic exams.

Lt. Brian Olmstead of the Sheriff’s Training Bureau said, “I am proud of the dedication our six new deputies displayed over the last five months of intense law enforcement training, and I am excited for them to join our team, which is committed to protecting and serving the residents of Santa Barbara County.”

The Sheriff’s Office wants to congratulate Cliff Cabasag for receiving both the Leadership Award and the Most Inspirational Award.  Congratulations also to Paul Lewis who was honored with the Safe Driver Award and Shane Moore for earning the Physical Fitness Award.

The new Sheriff’s deputies were sworn in by Undersheriff Don Patterson and received their Sheriff’s deputy badges just prior to the graduation ceremony.  They have two more weeks of in-house training followed by a period of field training.