Norwalk : Reserve Officer of the Year

Lt. Don Sanford, a reserve deputy with the Norwalk sheriff’s substation, was chosen as Reserve Officer of the Year by the California Reserve Peace Officers Assn. Sanford, who has worked on active reserve patrol for 28 years, has contributed more than 20,000 hours.

“I was obviously quite pleased and honored,” said Sanford, a Whittier resident who owns a photography studio. Besides patrol duties, Sanford also volunteers with an administrative division in the Sheriff’s Department as a photographer.

The 51-year-old, who receives $1 a year, contributes about 130 hours a month. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.

Enthusiasm for law enforcement has been passed along in his family, he said. Sanford’s oldest son, John, works as a full-time sheriff’s deputy, and son, Brian, is a volunteer at the Norwalk station.