The Lake Patrol Division has the responsibility for law enforcement services in the recreational areas of Tonto National Forest and Lake Pleasant Regional Park. This area includes, but is not limited to: Saguaro, Canyon, Apache, Bartlett and Horseshoe Lakes as well as the Lower Salt and Verde River recreational areas, Four Peaks, Superstition, Mazatzals, Camp Creek and Seven Springs recreational and wilderness areas. The total area of responsibility is over 1,000 square miles, which are visited by over 1.5 million people annually.

The Lake Patrol Division is composed of highly trained deputy sheriffs who possess a large variety of skills and abilities such as the operation of four-wheel-drive vehicles, all-terrain vehicles, patrol boats, jet skis and an air boat. All Lake Patrol deputies are certified Emergency Medical Technicians and several are Paramedics. The division also has a detective section which investigates all crimes, deaths and boating accidents on the lakes and rivers.

In addition, the Lake Patrol Division has a nationally recognized dive team, which has been called upon for their services throughout Arizona, the Western United States and in Mexico. Since 1986, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Lake Patrol Division has been hosting and instructing a Joint Agency Dive Seminar for government agencies throughout the Western United States which are responsible for search and recovery missions requiring diving expertise. This school, as well as much of Lake Patrol's equipment, is funded by The K.C. Johnson Foundation.

If you visit the lakes and wilderness areas of Maricopa County, the Sheriff's Office hopes you have a great time, but also strongly encourages you to obey the laws and to use common sense. Every year Lake Patrol deputies deal with dozens of tragic and unnecessary deaths and accidents. It is the Sheriff's Office goal to eliminate these needless tragedies and its greatest tool in this effort is education.