By Mary O’KEEFE

After five years as the captain of the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station, Dave Silversparre will be taking on a new challenge at the Communications and Fleet Management Bureau at Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept.

“I have been honored to serve the community which I love and grew up in,” Silversparre said.

Silversparre’s roots are, and remain, in Crescenta Valley. His father owned the 76 Station at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Angeles Crest Highway for years. He grew up attending local schools and was an Explorer at the Crescenta Valley Station.

It is common for LASD captains to serve one to three years at a station. Silversparre said he was honored that he was able to be at the station.

“For five years, this has been my dream job,” he said.

He praised his dedicated staff and the many volunteers who serve the station.

“The volunteer [programs] were already in place when I arrived here. All I had to do was support them,” he said.

He added that there are more volunteers at the CV Station than employees. He also praised several of the programs including CV Sheriff Explorers and Montrose Search and Rescue.

Throughout his term, Crescenta Valley has faced many challenges and tragedies.

“No other captain has had to deal with two 18 wheelers [crashing at the bottom of the ‘Crest], a fire that burned 161,000 acres [Station Fire], debris basins filling and flooding, wind [storms] and two [public] suicides at our schools,” he said.

And that doesn’t include quite a few visits from wild life including many from the Crescenta Valley bear, Meatball.

There have been issues with burglaries but, in La Crescenta, crime has steadily declined. For three years crime dropped 14% and last year it dropped 7.76%, he added.

In the past five years there have been innovations and improvements to the station, not the least of which is a mural that was commissioned by Silversparre that was painted by members of the station’s inmate work crews PACE (Prisoner Assisted Community Enhancement) program. It was supervised by the station’s graphic artist Sandy Enslow. The station also now houses three receptacles for dropping off hypodermic needles, prescription drugs and marijuana.

Silversparre is moving to a division that will help lead the LASD into the next high tech version of law enforcement.

The division will be in charge of moving the department into the mobile digital computer era.

“The Sheriff [Lee Baca] is very excited about moving into intelligence led policing,” Silversparre said.

Although he knows the job he is moving to will be a big job, he will miss his CV Station – his home station.

“I still live in the area. I will still be around,” he said.