The following is a list of important dates in our department’s history:

1800’s

1853 – Robert Clift took the oath of office as the first Sheriff of San Bernardino County.
1890 – The Barstow and Victor Valley Sheriff’s Stations were established.

1900’s

1909 – Sheriff John C. Ralphs directed the hunt for Paiute Indian “Willie Boy” who was wanted for murder. The hunt ended in the Old Woman Springs area with Willie Boy dead, surrounded by Ralphs and his posse. The manner of death is argued to have been by suicide or at the hands of the posse.
1915 – Captain Frank Freem was the first San Bernardino County Traffic Officer. He later joined the California Highway Patrol.
1923 – Sheriff Walter Shay appointed the Department’s first Identification Superintendent, O.W. Bottorf
1927 – The County courthouse on Arrowhead Avenue opened its doors.  It maintained a jail facility on the 4th floor that was in use until 2014.
1929 – After numerous temporary locations, the Victorville built its first permanent station.
1933 – Sheriff Ernest Shay began the use of automobiles equipped with radios.
1934 – The Sheriff’s Rangers were established.
1935 – The first use in San Bernardino County of radio transmitter for law enforcement.
1940 – The West End substation was established.
1941 – The Fontana Substation was established.
1945 – The Big Bear Station was established.
1946 – The Sheriff’s Employee Benefits Association was established. The Juvenile Bureau was formed.

1950 – San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Reserves were formed and first used in Fontana. Wrightwood Reserves were formed.
1951 – The Reserve Mounted Posse and the Reserve Motorcycle Posse were formed. The Ladies Auxiliary was formed for female employees and the wives of regularly employed deputies.
1952 – The first regular Transportation Division was established with two men and a 1952 Chevy station wagon. The first full-time deputy was assigned to Twenty-nine Palms. The Sheriff’s Aero Squadron was formed.
1953 – The Sheriff’s Reserve Emergency Unit and the Women’s Sheriff’s Reserve Unit were formed.
1954 – Sheriff Frank Bland stated the nation’s first narcotic “Buy Program.”
1957 – The Yucaipa Substation was opened.  The first Sheriff’s Rodeo was held at the Orange Show.
1959 – The first Department aircraft was purchased, a Cessna 180.
1960 – Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center opened as a work camp.

1962 – Victorville became a contract city. The ID Bureau switched from black and white photographs to color of both felons and misdemeanants.
1963 – The Intelligence Division was formed.
1965 – The Special Enforcement Detail was formed.
1968 – The Bureau of Administration was formed.
1972 – Central Detention Center opened.
1975 – The Twin Peaks Station opened.
1978 – In July, Rancho Cucamonga became the first contract city with the Department.
1980 – On May 9, the Norco Bank Robbery occurred with Riverside County Deputy James Evans killed. The ensuing pursuit ended in San Bernardino County with the Lytle Creek Shootout in which two suspects were killed and three were captured.
1982 – November, the Twenty-nine Palms and Yucca Valley substations closed and moved into the first consolidated county government center in the Morongo Basin.
1985 – Department K-9 Team formed.
1987 – July, The Communications Division was formed when the Sheriff consolidated the six valley stations into a central location in Rialto.
1987 – The present-day Headquarters opened on 3rd Street in San Bernardino.
1987 – Chino Hills became a contract city.
1987 – November 3, The city of Highland incorporated and contracted with the Sheriff’s Department.
1988 – The city of Hesperia became a contract city.
1991 – The Emergency Vehicle Operation Center (EVOC) opened.
1991 – West Valley Detention Center Opened in Rancho Cucamonga.
1999 – October, The San Bernardino County Marshal’s Department merged into the Sheriff’s Department.

2000’s

2002 – February, The city of Adelanto became a contract city.
2005 – January, The Coroner’s Department became a part of the Sheriff’s Department.
2006 – The Adelanto Detention Center opened.
2009 – July 4, The Fontana Station was briefly renamed the West Foothill Station.
2013 – February 12, A former Los Angeles police officer wounded Deputy Alex Collins and fatally shot Detective Jeremiah MacKay at the Seven Oaks area in the San Bernardino Mountains.

2015 - On December 2, 2015, a terrorist attack, consisting of a mass shooting and an attempted bombing, occurred at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. Our department joined the massive hunt for the suspects, who were later killed in a shootout with our deputies and Law Enforcement partners.

Read more about San Bernardino County’s History HERE

Please contact the Historical Society with any corrections or additions. Thank you.