Madera County Sheriff's Department Reorganized & Promotions with Undersheriff Position Added Back

MADERA - The Madera County Sheriff’s Office hosted a swearing-in, promotional, and special awards ceremony to recognize recent new hires and promotions within the department. Family, friends, media and elected officials such as the newly sworn in Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno were in attendance.

The position of Undersheriff was added back into the command structure after a four year absence. The position once held by Michael Salvador was eliminated shortly after the 2014 election, as the department went to a Sheriff/Commander/Lieutenant hierarchy. The position is now back with former Commander now Undersheriff Tyson Pogue being elevated to the new number two position in the department.

“Having the ability to promote qualified and dedicated staff from within the Sheriff’s Office enhances our ability to be responsive to the changing demands of our profession. We are grateful to the community and the Board of Supervisors for the opportunity to reorganize our command staff to match these growing demands.”- Madera County Sheriff Jay Varney

A Promotional and Awards Ceremony was hosted at the Madera County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday. The following personnel were promoted:

Tyson Pogue, Undersheriff

Undersheriff Tyson Pogue started his career 18 years ago as a mountain patrol Deputy. As a deputy, he joined the dive team, became a K9 handler, and was ultimately assigned to the narcotics team. Tyson handled a very successful narcotics dog for 8 years. On September 1, 2007, he was promoted to Sergeant and returned to mountain patrol. As a Sergeant, he took on several collateral duties in addition to running one or two patrol shifts and obtaining his Associates Degree in Computer Information Systems. He was the K9 Team Leader, participated in the Internet Crimes Against Children task force, and implemented the Emergency Notifications System as well as the WebEOC emergency management software systems we still use today.

Tyson was promoted to the position of Lieutenant January 1, 2013. As the operations Lieutenant, he managed patrol, OES, SAR, SWAT, and several other functions. He also implemented the department’s social media. Three years later Tyson was promoted to Commander. He served as the regional SWAT Commander, and oversaw the operations and administrative department functions. As Commander, he implemented the department’s UAV unit and continues to serve as an FAA Certified drone pilot. He served as Public Information Officer, the president of the Peace Officer Management Unit, and as Commander, made several technological, operational and administrative advancements with the support of Sheriff Varney. Tyson completed EMT training and certification on his own time and was and appointed Vice-Chair of the CPOA Region V Board. Tyson was recently elected Chairperson of the 15member Community Action Partnership of Madera County board of directors. CAPMC has a 27-milliondollar annual budget and administers several different programs including victim services. Tyson has served as Incident Commander during several major incidents and wildfires.

Tyson is a proud, life-long, Madera County Resident. He is married to Melissa and they have three children. His oldest son Josh is currently serving the Navy in Bahrain. He has two daughters, 15-yearold Mackenzie and 10-year-old Savannah. His parents Cindy and James, as well as sister Olivia, are also long-time Madera County residents. Undersheriff Pogue said he is personally invested in the safety and protection of Madera County. “I take great pride in our department and my community and look forward to the opportunity to serve both as the Undersheriff. I am humbled by the opportunities afforded to me by Sheriff Varney.”

Patrick Majeski, Commander

Commander Patrick Majeski has been with the Sheriff’s office for almost 30 years after being hired on 10/01/1989 as a Sheriff’s Deputy. Throughout the duration of his career, he has served in numerous roles, including Field Training Officer/Supervisor (17 years), SWAT (3 years), Narcotics Enforcement Team (5 years), and FAA Certified Drone Pilot (2 Years).

Patrick was a Deputy for 14 years and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in May of 2003. He was a Sergeant for 9 years before he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in September 2012. He has worked as a Lieutenant for the past 6 years.

Commander Majeksi is one of the Department’s “Tech Gurus”. If it is computer related, he has been involved with it. He has worked with our Emergency Management software WebEOC and is currently assisting with our implementation of our new Computer Aided Dispatch and Records Management software from Mark43.

Patrick has been married for 18 years to Elizabeth. He is the proud father of four children, his son Logan, who is a K9 Deputy, and three daughters London, who is in nursing school, Ashley (14), and Victoria (12). Patrick’s hobbies are working with computers and spending time with his family.

Jason Clark, Lieutenant

Lieutenant Jason Clark has been with Madera County 20 years as of October 2018. He began his career as a Correctional Officer at the Madera County Department of Corrections; during his time there he was a training officer as well as a member of the Crisis Response Team. Jason then joined the Madera County Sheriff’s Office as a Deputy in March of 2002. During his first year as a Deputy, he was selected to become a team member of the Madera Regional SWAT Team. Jason was a team member for 17 years from 2002-2019. He has served the team as an Assistant Team Leader for 3 years and then as a Team Leader for the last 5 years.

At the beginning of his career with the Sheriff’s Office, Jason worked patrol on the valley floor for 3 years before becoming a detective in 2005. He had the great pleasure of working alongside some experienced investigators and has been a part of some of high profile cases in Madera County. Jason also had the privilege of being a member of the Off Highway Vehicle unit, where he rode one of the dual sports motorcycles for several years.

Jason was promoted to Sergeant in 2011. He worked as a patrol Sergeant in the valley until 2015, when he was given the opportunity to be assigned to the Problem Oriented Policing (POP) unit in the valley. During his time with POP, the unit has grown to having a detective, two full time deputies including a canine handler, and a probation officer currently assigned to the team.

Jason was also a Deputy Sheriff’s Association board member for over 10 years where he had served as the Vice President.

Jason is married to Kristine, and together they share 5 children; Jayson, Janell, Jacob, Hunter and Hollie. They range from 22 years to 12 years old. He also has a 5-year-old granddaughter named Sophia.

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Sergeant Mike Pace was also awarded the Purple Heart for being shot in the leg by a suspect at a domestic violence call in early November. Once back up arrived on the scene of the shooting he was transported to a local hospital where he was treated for his injuries.

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