The department also provides services such as air support, special weapons teams for high-risk critical incidents, forensics services and crime laboratories, homicide investigations, and academy training to smaller law enforcement agencies within the county and in surrounding counties.

[1][2] The department made national headlines on May 9, 1980, when five heavily armed men robbed the Norco branch of Security Pacific Bank.

Since dubbed the "Norco shootout", deputies responded to the bank robbery call and a prolonged gun battle and subsequent vehicle pursuit ensued.

[5] The Riverside Sheriff's Department conducted an undercover sting operation targeting students at Chaparral High School in 2012.

The Riverside Sheriff's Department was accused of ignoring affluent students and choosing targets that belonged to minority groups and the mentally disabled.

[6][7] An internal investigation by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department revealed that 25 employees cheated on the 2015 promotion exam.

[8] In 2021, press reports indicated that Sheriff Chad Bianco was a due-paying member of the far-right anti-government militia the Oath Keepers in 2014.

After the 2021 United States Capitol attack, Bianco observed said "the misguided and illegal actions of several individual members of Oath Keepers does not justify the mainstream media and FBI painting the whole group as an “anti-government militia.” He is also a member of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association.

The Riverside County jails provide short-term and long-term (depending on the type of sentencing) incarceration services for the county, jailing subjects arrested and charged with various types of crimes pending their court disposition as well as those convicted of crimes and sentenced.

The Riverside Sheriff's Academy is located at the Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center (BCTC) near the March Air Reserve Base.

[17][18] The following represents the organization of the RCSD:[19][20] As of January 2025, 29 Officers and 3 K9s of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department have been killed in the line of duty.