Live Oak Neighborhood Deputy Program
City of Live Oak was the first implementation of the Neighborhood Deputy Program for Sutter County.
Neighborhood deputies are the essential element to the success of the Community Oriented Policing and
Problem Solving (COPPS) philosophy.
Community Oriented Policing is a model based upon relationships between deputies and citizens who work
together as partners toward proactive identification and problem solving of issues to achieve a higher
level of crime prevention in the community.
Deputy Weatherup with Live Oak City Hall employees
Since March of 1999, each deputy has been assigned a specific area
of Live Oak and charged with the responsibility of getting to know the people and the problems in that
area. Each deputy is directly accountable for determining the needs of the people and using all available
resources, including the members of the community, to respond to the needs and solve problems together.
In 1829, Sir Robert Peel, who is considered the father of modern law enforcement, made the following
statement about the role of the public in their community.
"The public are the police and the police are the public. The police, are only members of the public
who are paid to give full time attention to the duties incumbent upon every citizen in the interest of
community welfare and existence."
The key to the success of the Neighborhood Deputy Program is that individuals develop a kind of "ownership"
of the deputy assigned to their area. This will foster the free flow or exchange of information where people
can communicate with their deputy about anything that goes on in their neighborhood.
Recently, a survey instrument distributed to Live Oak residences polled the public on various potential
concerns in their neighborhoods. Survey information and data has been entered into a database for later
analysis and strategic problem solving. Periodically, the survey will be adapted and re-administered.
Many enlightening issues and concerns have come to our attention from the surveys.