Law Enforcement Division

The Law Enforcement Division is responsible for enforcing the law in Montgomery County. With the cooperation of the law enforcement agencies of the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg, and the Campus Police of Virginia Tech, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office's Law Enforcement Division ensures that the county is safe and secure. Below are descriptions of the responsibilities of the Patrol Deputies, County Ordinance Deputy, Tactical Response Team and the K-9 Team.

Deputy Sheriff - Patrol Division

Lieutenant Brad St. Clair is in charge of the Sheriff's Office patrol division. There are four patrol sergeants and approximately 40 patrol deputies. These deputies are assigned to four shifts, which patrol 394 square miles of Montgomery County. The patrol division is responsible for maintaining law and order, service of legal processes (criminal and civil), enforce laws, investigate crimes, and arrest violators. They observe traffic violations and issue summonses. These deputies respond to traffic accidents to maintain traffic flow, assist injured persons, and investigate causes of the accidents. They investigate illegal or suspicious activities, arrest criminals and serve arrest warrants. They also respond to fire calls, rescue calls, citizen complaints, and assist persons in need. These are just a few of the duties of the patrol division. They are always willing to go the extra mile to help a citizen in need or answer a citizen's question.

County Ordinance Deputy

Master Deputy Billy Saunders is the Sheriff's Office County Ordinance Deputy. Deputy Saunders is responsible for investigating and enforcing all Montgomery County ordinances. He oversees any environmental concerns and works closely with the Department of Environmental Quality (D.E.Q.). Deputy Saunders monitors site clean-up whenever there is an environmental hazard and updates the D.E.Q. staff on the progress. Some samples of contaminated sites could include:

• Private dumps that could contain items and chemicals that may contaminate ground water
• Private and commercial asbestos removal
• Any hazardous spills, either from a private or commercial/industrial site or fuel spills from motor vehicle accidents

Deputy Saunders also enforces zoning ordinances and works closely with the County Zoning and Planning Department to ensure compliance with special use permits that are issued in Montgomery County. He investigates complaints from citizens on:

• Illegal dump sites
• Auto graveyards
• Illegal burning of treated lumber (Arsenic, which is used to treat lumber, can be hazardous to humans)

Tactical Response Team

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Tactical Response team conducts part-time tactical operations related to barricaded suspects, hostage incidents, sniper incidents, raids and other emergency situations. The Tactical Team provides support to the members of the Sheriff's Office and other agencies through a highly trained specialized team, equipped with special weapons and related equipment with expertise in the use of tactics for emergency situations. The team will be composed of an entry team and a two-man observer/sniper unit. The team commander will assign team members to each unit. Support personnel may consist of K-9 units, hostage negotiators and recovery scuba divers.

The deputies must attend a three-week Tactical training sponsored by the Virginia State Police. The tactical team conducts training one day per month consisting of eight hours of specialized tactical training. Whenever possible the tactical team coordinates and conduct training with other tact teams. Training is also conducted with K-9 units and other specialized teams.

Uses of the tactical team include, but are not limited to:

• Barricaded suspects
• Hostage incidents
• Sniper incidents
• Searches for escapees, fleeing felons or other armed subjects
• Riots and civil disorders
• Man-made disasters or natural disasters; Serving warrants where resistance may be expected
• Raids - drugs and other
• Accompany canine units
• Assisting rescue squads with searches for lost persons where equipment and communications of the team may be used
• Tactical or rescue situations where rappelling skills may be needed
• Assisting scuba divers during recovery diving operations

K-9 Team

Deputy Travis Harvey and his partner, Axar, make up the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office K-9 team. Axar is a black giant schnauzer. He was imported from Czechoslovakia by a San Antonio, Texas kennel. Deputy Harvey and Axar have completed the Roanoke City Police Department's drug dog training course and they also train regularly with the Virginia Police Work Dog Association.

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office believes that Travis and Axar are a great asset in the fight against drugs and drug trafficking throughout Montgomery County. This team is enthusiastic, well trained, and ready for a call at a moments notice. Axar is trained for detecting narcotics, such as cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamines.

Deputy Travis Harvey and K-9 Axar		Axar is a giant schnauzer imported from Czechoslovakia.