The Yolo County Sheriff’s Department has maintained a year round Boating / Safety Section since it was conceptualized on June 29, 1973 by former Under Sheriff Tom Musgrove. This has been possible because of an on-going grant from the California State Department of Boating & Waterways subvention program.

The grant monies originate from state vessel registration fees and fuel taxes. They are supplemented by boat taxes collected by the County of Yolo. These monies cover funding for two full time deputy, and one full time sergeant position. They also cover the cost of deputy training, vehicle maintenance and equipment that is used in the Boating Safety / Search & Rescue Section.

The primary mission of the section is to insure and promote the safety of the boating public. This is achieved through cooperative efforts with surrounding agencies that include: The Sacramento County  Sheriff’s Department, Sutter County Sheriff’s Department, Sacramento Police Department, West Sacramento Police Department, and the United States Coast Guard. Contacts with the public are primarily geared toward education. This is achieved by using  verbal warnings, written citations, field contacts and handouts supplied by the state Department of Boating & Waterways to educate the boating public.  After a boating violation is observed by deputies, the violator will receive a warning, rather than a citation, if it is in the deputies' opinion the warning will be heeded.

The secondary mission of the section is to provide countywide search and rescue services for lost, stranded, or injured victims. Areas of operations include the Sacramento River, Cache Canyon, Putah Creek and the mountains, sloughs and flat lands of the county. This is accomplished through the use of specialized equipment that is maintained on a year round basis. Equipment includes the use of four-wheel drive vehicles, motorcycles, all terrain vehicles and inflatable rafts.  

Deputies also give demonstrations and provide training to the general public and to school age children throughout the surrounding area.

Yolo County waterways are patrolled on a daily basis, utilizing one 24' patrol vessel, one 23’ patrol vessel, and one 20’ patrol vessel. A patrol vessel is kept permanently berthed at a marina on the Sacramento River. The vessel stays there on a year round basis and is available to deputies for emergency call outs. These vessels are primarily used to patrol approximately eighty miles of the Sacramento River, as well as approximately twenty-four miles of the Deep water Channel. The creeks, sloughs and bypass are patrolled utilizing especially designed equipment.  

Boating Safety personnel receive a vast array of specialized training that includes: Advanced Vessel Handling and Operation, Boating Under the Influence Investigation, Boating Accident Reconstruction, Swift Water Rescue, Low to High Rescue Repelling and other related search and rescue techniques. To supplement this training, the section has regular in-service training exercises.