ALAMOSA — In a first for the Alamosa County Sheriff’s Office and the Alamosa Police Department, U.S. Marshal for the Colorado District Kirk Taylor was at the sheriff’s office on Monday morning where he swore in four members of local law enforcement to be Special Deputies with the U.S. Marshal Service.

APD Detective Joshua Glass, APD Sergeant Tate Kinshuh, ASO Lieutenant William Squires and ASO Sergeant Marshal Dickinson will be working as Task Force Officers (TFO) with the Colorado Division of the U.S. Marshal Service.

“This is quite an honor,” Taylor told the group of family, friends and fellow law enforcement officers who attended the swearing in ceremony, adding that the four men had to undergo a “full federal background check” and take on intensive training to do their job as U.S. Marshal TFOs.

Taylor went on to thank APD Chief George Dingfelder and ASO Sheriff Robert Jackson for making the commitment to have Glass, Kinshuh, Dickinson and Squires trained and sworn in. 

“There’s broad coverage with the U.S. Marshal Service. As soon as there’s a warrant issued, U.S. Marshals can kick in. And Task Force Officers like these four here are real  ‘force multipliers’ for local law enforcement,” Taylor said. “When the U.S. Marshal office is called in, these TFOs will be assigned to help all across the San Luis Valley and, really, southern Colorado, as a whole. They’ve already helped. They’re great collaborators.”

As Taylor described it, the U.S. Marshal Service has more shoot-outs than all of local law enforcement combined precisely because of what they are called to do.

“We hunt fugitives,” Taylor said. “We don’t do investigations. That’s not our role. We don’t write a lot of reports. Once there’s a warrant - and we don’t do anything without a warrant - we’re brought in to help. We hunt, we find, we catch and we give back fugitives to the agency that has been looking for them.. We learn all tactics involved in armed conflict.”

In speaking with the Valley Courier, U.S. Marshal Taylor described those working for the Marshal Service as a very “elite force”.  The training is intensive and, given that TFOs are only called in to “hunt” violent fugitives, Taylor adds, that makes it a “very dangerous job.”

The arrangement between ASO, APD and the U.S. Marshal Service was only made possible after the city and county signed Memorandums of Understanding, paving the way for the ongoing agreement and collaboration. Taylor describes it as “deconfliction” with local law enforcement, making clear what roles are in specific situations.

However, the U.S. Marshals have already been involved in helping local law enforcement, as happened during the 14-hour manhunt for Henry Corral who fatally shot two men and seriously injured a third in June of 2024. They were also called in to find Larry Chavez, also accused of murder who has yet to go to trial.

 Chief Dingfelder told the Valley Courier that, upon moving to Alamosa, it was very clear to him that establishing an arrangement with the U.S. Marshal Service would be of great benefit. Sheriff Jackson also spoke of the arrangement with high praise, calling to attention that this was the first time that local law enforcement officers had been officially sworn in as Special Deputies.

The requirements for Dickinson, Glass, Kinshuh and Squires to be selected involved being part of the SWAT response unit and having displayed exemplary behavior while in their current roles. Taylor did not rule out swearing in more special deputies in the future.

“I wanted to start with four,” he said.

Jackson told the Courier that he already has an assignment for the TFOs involving a warrant for an individual wanted for alleged sexual assault of a child.

Monday’s ceremony was, in many ways, a homecoming for Taylor who has roots in the SLV. Not only does his mother’s side of the family go back multiple generations in San Luis, Taylor started his law enforcement career with the APD where he and Jackson worked together.

In 1994, Taylor went to work at the 10th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Pueblo, Colorado, as an Investigator. While there, he attended the University of Colorado School of Law and obtained his Juris Doctorate.

During his tenure with the District Attorney, U.S. Marshal Taylor was selected and assigned many high-profile cases, and was appointed as a Special Investigator to both the 15th and 12th Judicial Districts in Colorado to investigate complex and politically charged investigations.

Taylor was then elected as the 37th Sheriff of Pueblo County, Colorado and served four terms until his presidential appointment as US Marshal for the District of Colorado in October 2022.

In speaking with Taylor and Jackson after the ceremony, it was clear the two went way back, illustrated by a photo hanging on Jackson's wall of the two of them, donning white Stetsons “when we both had hair”, Taylor said with a laugh.