The sheriff and the public: Sergeant Juan Valencia

Sgt. Juan Valencia in a SSV (special service vehicle) (The Puma Prensa / High Cochrane)

By Hugh Cochrane, Staff Writer

“Sir, do you know why I pulled you over today?” is probably what most people think of when they hear “law enforcement”. They think of patrol cars driving down the streets of Santa Rosa, itching to give out tickets or catch someone in the act of a robbery. Though, in reality, most law enforcement jobs are in the jail building, or at the station.

These are the people doing the heavy lifting. They make releases to the public and manage the criminal record of every inmate currently being held. The jobs inside of the jail are just as important as every job on the outside, yet they are the ones that many people forget about.

About 300 people are employed at the Sonoma County Jail, making up about half of the total employees at the sheriffs department. Everything you see about the sheriff’s department goes through one person, the Public Information Officer (PIO).

The PIO of a law enforcement agency speaks to journalists, does press releases, and makes every single Instagram, TikTok, and X post you see from official accounts. Oftentimes, the PIO was at one point a patrol officer, but switched to office work for a variety of reasons.

Sonoma County’s PIO is Sergeant Juan Valencia, who has spent about 23 years in law enforcement. He started out at the Petaluma Police department, and was moved over to the sheriff’s office in 2004, where he has worked ever since. He was promoted to a sergeant in 2019. Sergeant Valencia’s job is just one of many in the jail. 

Sergeant Valencia began in the police force because “there was an officer in [his] neighborhood” which he made a strong connection with when he was young. He started out in the police explorer program, where he moved on to work at Petaluma Police department in 2002.

After some time with PPD, he moved on to the sheriff’s office where he worked as a homicide detective and as a K9 handler, even starting the “K9 unit for Windsor,”. During his time with the sheriff’s office he worked many cases and was even once shot at by a gang member.

“I started as the PIO back in 2019 after I was promoted to a sergeant because I was bilingual,” Valencia said. The job of the PIO requires communication with not just English speaking channels, but also several Spanish speaking radio stations and news organizations, such as telemundo. This is why Sergeant Valencia was picked for the job despite having “no media training”.He quickly adapted to the job and says that he now “loves it.” 

Possibly the most important part of Sergeant Valencia’s job is press releases. The PIO’s office is constantly making press releases on social media and through emergency alerts on Nixle. These press releases often include car crashes, natural disasters or active investigations.

Though the sheriff’s office may try to notify people as fast as they can, most of the time other people get there first. One of the most popular examples is wtf_santa_rosa, on Instagram. Due to a lack of protocol, accounts like this can be useful for the public, but also they can cause issues during an ongoing investigation. Accounts like these oftentimes spread misinformation on accident, and it's the PIO office’s job to put an end to these incorrect posts.

After about four years of having the job as the PIO, Sergent Valencia in 2022 moved back over to patrol, where he entered one of the “most eventful” times in his career. Over that period he had nearly “2-3 pursuits a week,” mostly relating to carjackings. He had a whole team who worked graveyard shifts with him. 

After a 2 year hiatus he returned to his job as the PIO in January of 2025. Currently, the most common topic he has had to deal with is president Trump’s immigration policy and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Despite what some people may think, the sheriff’s office does “absolutely no work with ICE,” and all the information that they get from the sheriff is public information that is released when anyone, not just illegal immigrants, is convicted of a felony crime in a court of law. This is typically when ICE makes a request to take a migrant from the jail into their custody, and from there they are deported. 

Another major topic Sergeant Valencia addressed was school violence. 

The main thing the sheriff’s office can do regarding school violence is provide school resource officers (SROs) directly through the sheriff or the local police department. The SROs “build trust and relationships with students” so that when a student has a weapon or drugs, other students feel “comfortable telling the SRO” , said Valencia.

Even though SRCS doesn't contract SROs, there is always a deputy nearby. Deputies are assigned to many different districts of contract cities, so if some form of violence breaks out, law enforcement can be ready to react and protect students.

Both deputies and police officers have dedicated themselves  to protecting our community, some even sacrificing their lives. Sergeant Valencia is just one of many who has worked above and beyond to help keep as many people as they can safe.