ACSO Dig Deep Farms & Kitchen Program

Alameda County Sheriff's Office Kitchen and Dig Deep Program

Captain Martin Neideffer is a 23-year veteran of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. Upon his promotion to Captain in February 2016, he was placed in charge of the expanded Youth and Family Services Bureau, which operates out of the Sheriff’s Office Eden Township Division and incorporates behavioral health, community and economic development, recidivism reduction, and enforcement into an innovative neighborhood policing model. Captain Neideffer manages a staff of 24 sworn, 21 behavioral health professionals and one civilian program specialist, who oversees operations for a dynamic, multi-sectoral non-profit known as the Deputy Sheriffs’ Activities League (DSAL). Neideffer founded the DSAL in 2004 while a deputy working as a school resource officer. The organization has an annual operating budget of $3 million and has grown to 30 full- and part-time employees working in recreation, urban agriculture, food systems, arts, and community organizing. 

As a lieutenant in 2011, Neideffer and his team launched the evidence-based jail reentry project known as Operation My Home Town, which has demonstrated success in lowering recidivism rates for some residents returning from Alameda County jails. Captain Neideffer, a San Lorenzo native and a graduate of Moreau High School in Hayward, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.