However, in 2012 when then-Sheriff Rod Hoops announced his retirement, the Board of Supervisors appointed Assistant Sheriff John McMahon to the position.

The Board made the appointment after determining that a special election for sheriff would be cost prohibitive ($3.5 million).

On January 12, 1856, a volunteer militia unit known as the San Bernardino Rangers was organized under the command of Captain Andrew Lytle to aid the Sheriff in suppressing raids by Indians and the gangs of outlaws like the Flores Daniel Gang that plagued the county.

Herring was still Sheriff during the Ainsworth Gentry Affair a couple of weeks after he lost the election to Charles Wesley Piercy.

He had difficulties enforcing the law in Belleville and the other boom towns of the Holcomb Valley gold rush and with the turbulence caused in the county by the secession crisis and the beginning of the American Civil War.

On one occasion Sheriff Smith rode into an outlaw camp, recovering a herd of stolen horses and arresting three thieves.

[9] Since the establishment of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, 16 officers and 1 K9 have died in the line of duty.

[19] K9 Jojo The SBCSD rank structure is as follows: The current San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner is Shannon Dicus.

This bureau provides law enforcement services to the large Mojave Desert portion of the county.

Volunteer Forces provides search and rescue, evacuation, disaster planning, emergency management and Department Operations Center coordination.

The team members are cross-sworn as United States Marshall's and work closely with them in apprehending fugitives across the country.

The detail and its members are accredited by the FBI in handling explosive devices, military ordnance and unknown suspicious packages.

It is used by local bomb squads, as well as others from throughout the southern California region, for training and the destruction of confiscated explosives, ammunition, and fireworks.

Each team consists of Sheriff's Deputies, Probation Officers and members of the California Highway Patrol.

Aviation provides services including general law enforcement support, surveillance, fire suppression, medical transport, and search and rescue duties.

It operates the following aircraft: In December 2003, Ricardo Cerna, a 47 year old criminal originally from Guatemala, committed suicide inside an interview room at the main police station.