Jackson – Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan yesterday announced his office had received a federal grant of $501,000 to replace 2 deputies that were assigned to a regional narcotics team. The sheriff authorized pursuit of federal grants in an effort to refill 6 deputy sheriff positions lost to the recession, Undersheriff Jim Wegner said in a release this week. He said “with recent stimulus grants being offered by the federal government to address hiring and retention of peace officer positions,” Sheriff Ryan “tasked his administrative bureau with drafting federal grant applications in an effort to obtain funding.” The department has lost 6 deputy positions “due to the fiscal crisis of the past two years.” Wegner said that equates to “a 20 percent reduction in patrol staffing.” Ryan “also directed the drafting of a federal rural county drug enforcement application to fund the two deputy sheriff positions currently assigned to the (Amador County Community Narcotics Enforcement Taskforce).” In total the sheriff requested federal funding for 8 deputy sheriffs through the grant process. Wegner said the sheriff’s office learned that the grant application for the 6 deputy positions was not successful, but on September 29th, Ryan was notified that the U.S. Department of Justice had awarded the his office funding for full reimbursement of 2 deputy sheriff’s assigned to ACCNET for the next 24 months. Wegner said no local matching funds are required. The funding will allow the sheriff, upon Board of Supervisors approval, to backfill patrol personnel that were re-assigned to ACCNET upon its creation in November 2007. The sheriff commended his administrative bureau – specifically, deputies Mendonza and Marchant – in securing the $501,000 federal grant to restore patrol staffing to enable the sheriff’s office to better respond to calls for service from the public. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it