Safe Bet

Sahuarita is One of Arizona’s Safest Towns

By Christy Krueger

As the Town of Sahuarita continues to increase in size and population, so has its support systems including the police and fire departments. 

Sahuarita’s leaders believe that if the town is going to continue attracting residents and businesses, it must live up to its slogan – “Making Sahuarita a safe place to live, work and play.”

John Noland was hired as Sahuarita’s chief of police 10 years ago after serving with the Santa Rosa Police Department in California for 30 years, and he’s substantially grown the Sahuarita department. “When I came here, we had 44 sworn officers and seven civilian staff members. We currently have 61 sworn officers and 18 civilian staff members,” he said.

To make room for this growth, the department is about to embark on an expansion of its facility at Sahuarita Town Center. “We’ve outgrown the police station, and the town recognized that. The police department will double in physical size to accommodate expansion needs for 10-15 years. It will help with retention of staff,” Noland said.

Some of his primary goals going forward include recruitment, retention and succession of officers. He said the nation’s political environment in recent years has made it more difficult to hire and keep officers. As a result, Noland has embarked on a promotional campaign. “We go to recruiting events, military bases, schools and we use social media and our messaging signs that we move around town.”

While attracting people to the field of law enforcement may be tougher these days, attracting residents to Sahuarita is not. Along with the relatively low cost of housing, plentiful amenities and family-friendly events, the town is also a very safe place to live. Safewise chose Sahuarita as the third safest town in Arizona for 2024. “I’ll take that ranking anytime,” said Noland, “but crime happens even in safe cities. My job is to make it as safe as possible.”

Other safety programs provided by the police department include school resource officers who offer law enforcement services, security, and classes on responsibility; a traffic bureau with officers assigned to special traffic enforcement; and the addition of a criminal investigation bureau.

Significant to Sahuarita’s continued ability to attract residents has been the recent availability of medical facilities. This includes Banner Multispecialty Clinic; United Community Health Center, with multiple locations near Sahuarita; and Northwest Medical Center, a hospital facility affiliated with the Tucson hospital by the same name. “Northwest has been significant for us,” Noland said. “It’s a huge success for the town.”

Working closely with the police department to help make Sahuarita a safe community is the fire department, which recently had a name change.

“Since 1975, it’s been Green Valley Fire District,” noted Fire Chief Chuck Wunder, who’s been with the department since 1995 and is starting his 11th year as chief. “We’ve seen a lot of growth and our board of directors decided to change the name to reflect the area we cover. The name was changed to Santa Rita Fire District.”

The district currently includes five stations – three in Green Valley and two in Sahuarita, handling an estimated 15,000 calls per year. And Wunder expects to add more in the future. “We’re poised for growth. We’ll look at growth in Quail Creek and areas to the east as infrastructure grows. To meet response time, we need to grow and we need to support that growth.” Santa Rita Fire District also has a special operation for wildlands firefighting.

Wunder strives to involve the area’s citizens as much as possible. “We have a volunteer-run program called Fire Corp Program with more than 80 participants. These are community volunteers who handle non-emergency calls, such as our smoke alarm and battery changing service. We work to get involved in the school district. Right now, we’re having Camp Nitro where we host summer camps to introduce high schoolers to the public arena for recruiting and to get the message out about public work as a career.”

Santa Rita Fire District hosts at least 30 public outreach events each month. “We do HOA presentations, CPR training to the public and healthcare providers, swift-water rescues in the summer and pool safety,” Wunder said. “We’re super excited about our growth – the future is bright. We want to make sure the public knows about our services.”

Pictured above from left – John Noland, Police Chief, Town of Sahuarita; Chuck Wunder, Fire Chief, Town of Sahuarita. Photo by Brent G. Mathis

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