For Deputy Ty Wantland of the Camp Verde Marshal’s Office, drunk driving is personal.
Six years ago, on Aug. 20, 2013, Wantland, not yet a police officer at the time, lost his father in a drunk driving incident.
“That’s when the wheels started turning and I went towards law enforcement,” Wantland said. In his grief, he developed a close rela- tionship with his stepfather Roscoe Owsley, himself a deputy with CVMO.
“There are so many different roads you can take in your life,” Wantland said. “Instead of going down the same path my father was involved in, I chose to try to stop — to stop me from doing it, and to deter others.”
Wantland joined the Yavapai-Apache Police Department in 2016, before beginning study at the U.S. Indian Police Academy in Artesia, New Mexico in January 2017. In December of 2018, he joined the CVMO. Deputy Wantland works as a traffic cop, and based on his unique personal history, he sees stopping drunk drivers as a calling.
On Aug. 15, almost exactly six years since he lost his father, Wantland was honored along with a slew of police officers from around the northern half of the state by Mothers Against Drunk Driving Arizona as a MADD Hero at a banquet in Phoenix.
“For me it was a signification that I’d finally accomplished what was the main reason I got into law enforcement,” Wantland said of the award. “Stopping people from drinking and driving. It’s just a huge milestone for me.”
Wantland was honored again at a meeting of the Camp Verde Town Council on Wednesday, Sept. 4. Helain Day from MADD Arizona spoke about the award and Deputy Wantland.
“One of the most salient qualities that we look for is that fire,” Day said. “We can all get credentials. Lots of people can get a Juris Doctorate. We can get these certifications, but are they really out there doing it? Can you tell they’re hungry? Can you tell that they want to make a difference?”
“Since coming to the Camp Verde Marshals Office, Dep. Wantland has shown a great interest for impaired driving enforcement as well as traffic enforcement,” the CVMO wrote of Wantland when he was nominated for the award. “He has conducted over 244 traffic stops resulting in 6 arrests. Since January 2019, Dep. Wantland has contacted and arrested seven DUI drivers. This is an impressive number of DUI’s for the small town he patrols.”
Though he sees catching drunk drivers as his role as marshal’s deputy, Wantland says that he does not seek to punish those drivers, but to instead lead them on a path towards safety, hopefully convincing them to stop. Wantland said that he has met people he had previously pulled over or arrested who have given him hugs or thanked him for helping them stay safe.
“I don’t want to be that cop,” Wantland said. “I’m not trying to break people down or criticize them or anything. Everybody’s human. Everybody makes mistakes. If you do make mistakes you’ve got take responsibilities from your actions and learn from it, and not do it again.”
