Search the Sutter County Sheriff Department
Advanced Search
|
2007 Officer of the Year Detective Mercy Garcia |
|
It is my extreme honor to nominate Detective Mercey Garcia as the 2007 “Officer of the Year” for the Sutter County Sheriff’s Department. Detective Garcia was born in Indio, California in 1977 and moved with his family to Yuba City in 1980. He was raised in the Richland Housing Center and he graduated from Yuba City High School in 1995. He earned an Associate of Arts degree from Yuba College in 1998 and he graduated from the Yuba College Police Academy in 1999. Detective Garcia began his law enforcement career in 2000 when he was appointed as a Correctional Officer with the Glenn County Sheriff’s Department. He then was hired by the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department in 2001 as a Deputy Sheriff assigned to the jail. In July, 2002 he started his employment with the Sutter County Sheriff’s Department as Deputy Sheriff assigned to the Live Oak Substation. While in Live Oak he was assigned as the gang officer and he also worked the bike patrol. He then successfully tested and was appointed by me as a Detective in October, 2006, where he continues to serve. Detective Garcia currently serves as the Gang Coordinator for the Sheriff’s Department and as such he liaisons with the other area law enforcement agencies in the Yuba-Sutter Anti-Gang Enforcement Unit (YSAGE). He is a court-qualified expert on gangs, and routinely conducts training and presentations for area law enforcement agencies, schools, community groups and public forums. Due to his early exposure of gang activity while growing up in the Richland Housing Center, Detective Garcia has a passion for diverting young people from the influence of gangs. He routinely pays visits to the local Migrant Head Start program to maintain a positive link between law enforcement and our youth. He also works diligently to develop strong alliances between the Hispanic community and the Sheriff’s Department with the common goal of reducing the influence of gangs in our community. Detective Garcia is the recipient of one Sheriff’s Commendation, two Captain’s Commendations, five Supervisor’s Commendation, and two letters of appreciation from allied agencies and appreciative citizens. He received a special recognition award from the Live Oak Unified School District for his gang enforcement intervention in the schools. Detective Garcia’s
case work in the Detective Division has also been exemplary. • A vicious gang rape of two juvenile females by five unidentified Hispanic gang members. The victims knew only two of the suspects by their gang monikers, but due to Detective Garcia’s networking in gang enforcement he successfully identified all five suspects. Four of the suspects have since been arrested, confessing their crimes personally to Detective Garcia and the fifth suspect is a fugitive and currently wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant for rape. • A recent shooting in Live Oak involving a 15-year old gang member as the suspect resulted in the suspect successfully being tried and convicted as an adult, and subsequently being sentenced to 10 years in prison. Detective Garcia’s work on this case provided the necessary information leading to the conviction of the suspect as an adult. • Detective Garcia and his partner, Detective Jon Duffy, recently spent significant night and weekend hours to investigate the theft of a large amount of copper wire from P.G. & E equipment yards outside Sutter County, in which the wire was being stripped and salvaged in the Yuba City area. They successfully identified and arrested the suspect in the case and recovered nearly $20,000 of stolen property. The case is pending in Sutter County courts. Detective Garcia lives with his family in Yuba City. I look forward to presenting him to the Marysville Exchange Club on February 16, 2008 as our “Officer of the Year”.
Sincerely,
JIM DENNEY
|