S.T.A.R. program.celebrates 25 years in El Dorado County

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office started the S.T.A.R. program (Sheriff’s Team of Active Retirees) in 1994 with volunteers in Placerville and South Lake Tahoe. The volunteers help law enforcement officers, firefighters, and paramedics to ensure public safety, by performing traffic controls and maintaining roadblocks.

The dedicated group helps the community by performing home checks for people who are on vacation, participating in disaster drills, and by posting Warning Tags on illegally parked vehicles giving the owners time to move the vehicles before they get towed. The Tahoe S.T.A.R.'s help the school district by participating in the Drug Store Project, the Every 15 Minutes program, school shooting scenarios, and patrolling school parking lots. They help Search & Rescue by delivering food and drinks to the search teams and helping with Search & Rescue training.

The volunteer group also helps our children by participating in Trunk or Treats, The Day of the Young Child, the Fire Fest, Law Enforcement Day, the 4th of July parade, the Christmas Parade, and a program for following School Busses to report vehicles that fail to stop when a bus is at a bus stop. The Tahoe S.T.A.R.'s transport Sheriff’s vehicles to and from Placerville.

The Tahoe S.T.A.R. volunteers carry portable radios so they can call Central Dispatch and ask for a deputy when one is needed, report a bear break-in, traffic accidents or other emergency situations. They do not carry weapons, pepper spray or give pursuit and are instructed to retreat to a safe distance and call for backup whenever they see something of concern.

The S.T.A.R.s are the "eyes and ears" of the sheriff’s office striving for a positive impact in the community.

Those interested in joining the program must be at least 50 years of age and complete a two-week training academy, where they learn radio procedures, the “10 codes”, Traffic Control procedures, home check procedures, Crime Scene Containment, First Aid and CPR, four-wheel driving, and other needed skills and procedures. S.T.A.R.'s are asked to put in 16 hours a month or 192 per year.

Qualifications to become a S.T.A.R. Volunteer:
Be a person of good moral standard.
Valid California Driver's.
Pass a background check and fingerprinting.

Anyone interested in joining the S.T.A.R. program or anyone with questions can contact the STAR Coordinator for the location where you wish to volunteer:

Placerville STARS Coordinator: Lori Hartfield, (530) 621-5111 or HartfieldL@edso.org

South Lake Tahoe STARS Advisor: Dep. Greg Almos, (530) 573-3005 or Almosg@edso.org