LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A retired chief deputy is returning to the Lake County Sheriff's Office to head a new quality assurance effort.

On Wednesday Lake County Sheriff Rod Mitchell announced the creation of a new quality assurance inspector position for the department.

Mitchell has tapped for the task retired Chief Deputy Jeff Markham, who has agreed to accept the unpaid position because of his commitment to the county and the department.

Markham retired from the Lake County Sheriff’s Department in June of 2005 after 36 years of service.

He was a state narcotics agent prior to joining the sheriff’s department as a sergeant in 1967. He rose through the sheriff’s command ranks of lieutenant and captain and then as a chief deputy. He was Sheriff Mitchell’s second-in-command for five years before he retired.

Mitchell said he knows that Markham’s work will directly benefit the public and he shared his enthusiasm about the position with his senior command staff.

“I am glad to have Jeff back in any capacity but this is one of his areas of expertise,” Mitchell said. “We’ll use his findings as the basis of training and policy development and it will make us better at what we do.”

Mitchell said he created the quality assurance inspector position after his own random audits revealed service related deficiencies.

“Our team consistently performs well on the major crimes against persons and the ‘in-progress’ kind of offenses,” he said. “We are inconsistent though at delivering that same high quality service on some of the cold property crimes.”

The sheriff and his staff attribute some of these problems to inadequate communication and others to inconsistent training. Markham’s audits will help them develop the proper corrective measures to enhance service regardless of the findings.

The sheriff’s office recently began sending out service questionnaires and the review of those documents will be among Markham’s many tasks.

Markham also will initiate evaluations of the department's performance on a random basis across the entire agency, so his work will not be limited to the patrol arena alone.

“I will be listening to dispatch recordings, making random contacts with crime victims, interviewing former jail detainees and reading dozens of reports each month and all with the intent of identifying weaknesses and developing the proper response to them,” Markham said. “I am excited to have this opportunity to serve the department and the community in this way.”

He will initiate audits of select cases and reports and he will respond to citizens who have questions or concerns about departmental procedures. This will allow Markham to contact citizens who have complaints about sheriff's department practices or policies and make recommendations to Sheriff Mitchell on methods of addressing those concerns.

In order to complete a project pertaining to a departmental reorganization, some of the existing sergeants will be promoted to the rank of lieutenant.

Mitchell told Markham that he also will be glad to have him back in the department to assist in the development of these junior command level officers.

If you have comments, questions, or suggestions that you’d like to provide to Markham, he can be reached at 707-262-4098 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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