2010 Officer of the Year

Deputy Wallace

Deputy Wallace Deputy Wallace has worked for the Sutter County Sheriff's Department since December of 2007. Prior to law enforcement, he was in a working and touring band based out of Chico, CA for several years. Deputy Wallace is from a law enforcement family with his father, Russell, being a retired Oakland Police Officer and his younger brother, Matt, being a Police Officer for the bay area city of Pinole. Deputy Wallace credits his mother Kathryn as being the stabilizing force in his law enforcement family.

Deputy Wallace has been a patrol deputy for his entire career at Sutter County and has been assigned to the City of Live Oak contract area for more than two years. Deputy Wallace was recently assigned to become a Field Training Officer.

During 2010 Deputy Wallace handled many calls and cases but two separate cases involving burglaries stood out. The first case was a report in which two burglaries were reported. Deputy Wallace was able to develop information in which he was given the possible first name of a suspect. Deputy Wallace remembered arresting a parolee by that first name a couple of months earlier. He researched the name until he determined who it was and where they lived. He conducted a parole search and recovered over $6,800 dollars in property stolen in the reported burglaries. Deputy Wallace was also able to clear a burglary that had been committed on an earlier date (recovered $1,400 in property), two more attempted burglaries, with major vandalism to the businesses and a hit and run in which the suspect rammed a parked car and left the area. The suspect was subsequently arrested and is currently serving time in prison.

In a second case Deputy Wallace investigated the theft of lottery tickets from a store in Live Oak. The report indicated that the suspect stole over hundreds of dollars worth of Lottery Tickets. Deputy Wallace contacted State Lottery Investigators and worked closely with them. Deputy Wallace located stores in Live Oak that had cashed some of the winning tickets from the batch that had been stolen. Deputy Wallace reviewed video footage from all of the stores and due to his proactive work in Live Oak he was able to identify the suspect. Deputy Wallace conducted a probation search on the suspect's residence and located several of the missing tickets inside the suspect's house. Deputy Wallace received accolades from the State Lottery Investigators for his investigation of the case. The suspect has been subsequently arrested and is currently proceeding through the court process.

Lastly, Deputy Wallace volunteered to take over the Shop-With-A-Cop program two years ago and has more than doubled the amount of donations for the program so that it has gone from being able to sponsor 10 children two years ago, to 21 children last year to 27 children this year, plus 3 additional children that he partially sponsored himself.

According to his supervisor, when Deputy Wallace is given an assignment, no matter how menial or distasteful, he accomplishes the assignment almost immediately and thoroughly. Deputy Wallace stays involved and active with the citizens of Live Oak and has on several occasions been able to help other deputies and agencies in identifying subjects due to his familiarization of the citizens.

In 2006, he earned an Associate's Degree from Solano Community College in Criminal Justice and in 2010; he earned a Bachelors of Science Degree from the Union Institute and University in Criminal Justice Management. Deputy Wallace hopes to one day obtain a Master's Degree.

When he is not working, Deputy Wallace loves to travel all over the west coast and Montana. He is an avid baseball fan, and a season ticket holder for the San Francisco Giants. Deputy Wallace says that he is blessed to have a group of life long, close knit family and friends, which he enjoys spending his free time with.