Ouray County Sheriff's Posse

The Ouray County Sheriff’s Office is pleased to announce we are now conducting membership recruitment for the new volunteer Sheriff’s Posse team. For information or an application, please contact Sheriff Perry at 970-325-7272, email at jperry@ourayco.gov, or the Sheriff’s Posse Directors at ocsposse@gmail.com. (Membership application located below)

Often, there seems to be misinformation or misconceptions regarding a Sheriff’s Posse. To be clear, this is not an old wild west fugitive hunting posse that was consistent with the times of old. We’ve all seen the movies and portrayal of the Sheriff’s Posse riding alongside the Sheriff as they hunted down bad guys/girls. That was long ago and not how a posse functions in today’s time. Our Sheriff’s Posse Mission Statement is “to assist the Sheriff’s Office with non-law-enforcement duties and serve our community with dignity and respect.” Ouray County Sheriff’s Posse, Inc., is a nonprofit organization having as its purposes to assist the County Sheriff with non-law-enforcement duties when called upon to do so, on a volunteer basis. The Posse is directly overseen by the Sheriff and will be called upon when needed to assist the Sheriff’s Office. The following are some of the duties and programs that the Posse will be responding to and assisting with:

• Accident/traffic control

• Assist with Animal Control

• Assist Dispatch and/or SO front office

• Assist in Courthouse

• Crime Scene Security

• Crowd and Traffic control for Special Events

• Assisting with County Emergencies

• Directed Patrol/Security Checks including vacation home watch programs

• Fire Evacuation

• Fire Watch Program

• Ranch Watch

• Neighborhood Watch

• Ride-A longs with Sheriff’s Deputies

• Roadblocks and Perimeter Security

• Assist Ouray Mountain Rescue

Years ago, Ouray County Sheriff’s Office had a Posse, but due to unfortunate circumstances and lack of volunteerism it was disbanded. The original Posse was a division within the Sheriff’s Office vs our professional standard of a 501c3 nonprofit organization with bylaws, policies and procedures and high ethical standards. Every applicant will go through an official background investigation and when approved for membership, will begin extensive training. Monthly meetings with training will be provided to ensure high standards are met and that every Posse member is representing the Sheriff in an effective and appropriate manner. Trainings will consist of many things such as de-escalation techniques, Incident Command System, traffic control, search and rescue, horsemanship, wildland fire response, etc. The new Sheriff’s Posse will include a mounted horse division that will be of great benefit for backcountry response. Utilizing horses will help first responders carry gear and minimize fatigue that is so often a concern in our rugged area. After discussions with leadership serving on our incredible Mountain Rescue Team, it is agreed that this resource will be highly beneficial and will further enhance safety and effective responses.

Interested individuals do not need to have any prior law enforcement training. We hope you will consider serving as a volunteer with the Ouray County Sheriff’s Posse!

Respectfully,

Justin Perry, Ouray County Sheriff