Veteran, MUHS graduate settles in as Camp Verde’s new marshal

One of the first scrambles Dan Jacobs had to solve after being promoted to Camp Verde marshal was a photography emergency.

The photographer for Camp Verde Marshal’s Office’s picture day canceled at the last minute, and it was Jacobs’ job to find a replacement. In the end, it was his wife who saved the day.

“We used a crime scene camera,” he said. He owed her dinner that night for the time she spent taking the photos.

The stress and work that comes with being the marshal isn’t new to Jacobs. He was officially promoted March 29 and sworn in April 15, but was the interim marshal after former Marshal Corey Rowley resigned in December and before that, Jacobs was acting marshal beginning last July — Rowley had taken a leave of absence for medical reasons in July and decided he wouldn’t return in December.

Jacobs is the first internal promotion to marshal in CVMO’s history.

History

Jacobs grew up in Cornville and graduated from Mingus Union High School. He now lives in Cottonwood, close enough to see their children who live nearby.

“I have 13 grandkids, so we are fortunate,” he said. “We have two of our three children, adult children, that live here in the Verde Valley. Our daughter and her husband had just recently moved to Tennessee, so they took five of them with them.”

He was first introduced to law enforcement after he returned from a career in the U.S. Marine Corps, during which he went on several tours to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I came home, did a ride along with my brother-in-law, who works with [Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office], and was like, ‘this is awesome,’” he said. “I’m like, ‘this is totally what I want to do.’ And my wife’s like, ‘you got to be kidding me.’ She’s like, ‘you had a job with a gun for the last 27 years, can you please just pick a normal job?’”

Jacobs began submitting applications and was offered a graveyard shift job for the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office in Flagstaff.

After about two years, “I decided to start looking for a job closer to home,” he said. “I wanted to stay in law enforcement because I loved it up there. People were great, the job was great, I was having a blast, so lo and behold, I saw an opening for the Camp Verde Marshal’s Office.”

Jacobs started there in 2013, and worked up the ranks from corporal to sergeant, then lieutenant and commander.

Kelly Jobe, CVMO’s administrative assistant since 2023, said she has found Jacobs to be an “exceptional leader.”

“I have been told that throughout his career, he has consistently demonstrated kindness, courtesy, honesty, and unwavering integrity,” she wrote. “His commitment to both his staff and the community has earned him the respect and admiration of those who have the privilege of workingalongside him.”

“He has the support of his department and fellow directors, and we are excited to see his continued growth as he steps into this position permanently,” Town Manager Miranda Fisher wrote when announcing his hiring. “His calm demeanor and steadfast commitment to service will serve him well as he leads the Camp Verde Marshal’s Office into the future.”

Life-Saver

When asked what he feels his greatest achievement with CVMO has been, Jacobs pointed to a picture on his office’s wall, showing him standing with Sgt. Dustin Richardson and a civilian.

Beneath it was the label “Life Saving Award. Sergeant Dan Jacobs.”

“This gentleman, back in 2018, he had fallen off of a cliff by the end of Arizona Avenue, kind of back where Verde Lakes is at,” Jacobs said. “He survived the fall, was able to start trying to climb his way back to civilization and get help. It got dark, it was cold, it was in the middle of the wintertime.”

He said he thankfully had his phone on him, which CVMO began pinging to triangulate his location.

“By the time we found this gentleman, he had crawled under a tree and basically had given up,” he said.

Richardson spotted the man first.

“We ran over to render aid to him, and the gentleman, from his fall, the top half of his skull, had basically opened up.
He was in horrible shape, and near hypothermia.”

They warmed him up, with the help of the Copper Canyon Fire and Medical District, and got him back to safety.

“Last year on the anniversary of his fall, he came and brought us all … barbecue,” Jacobs said.

Marshal

One of the first things Jacobs did after moving into his new office was to bring the desk by the door.

“The desk and everything was over on this side,” Jacobs said, gesturing to the corner of his office opposite the door. “The conversation was there, and it was like you had to walk a gauntlet to … talk to the chiefs. I don’t like that. I want more of an open approach, where I’m right there at the door and I’m very interactive with the department.”

He said he still plans to maintain the proper chain of command, but it gives him the ability to interact more with his officers.

“He treats everyone with respect and ensures that decisions are made thoughtfully and impartially,” Jobe wrote. “His honesty and transparency have created an environment where employees feel valued, supported, and confident in his leadership.”

Within two months of becoming interim marshal, before the promotion was official, he formed an Intergovernmental Agreement with the National Park Service for dispatch operations for Montezuma Castle National Monument.

“They’re dispatching service is right out of the Grand Canyon,” he said. “So, the reception was horrible, they would have a hard time making contact with their dispatch officers, and it was kind of putting them in danger. But now, … they get on the radio, they call right into our guys, and if they need support or backup, our officers are right there to help them out, too.”

NPS officers have also helped CVMO with traffic stops and similar events since then, he said.

Goals

Coming in as marshal, especially being so familiar with CVMO already, Jacobs has some plans for the department.

“One of the things that I could see that our department can do better is community policing and community engagement,” he said. “That was one of the things you know from when I originally applied to become a marshal that I would really like to achieve.”

To do this, he said, he said he wants to build a Marshal’s Engagement Team. The team could be the face of the community, Jacobs said. He’d split it up so different officers would more or less represent a certain part of Camp Verde.

“That way, people who live in that area would have a deputy that they could call their own, basically, and have somebody that they could bring issues and stuff to,” he said. “On top of that, having this — like a marshal’s office engagement team of civilians from these different areas — that would come in quarterly, … [would] help just solve some issues that may be happening within Camp Verde.”