Ex-MCSO Air Posse member wonders why he was kicked off the posse

PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- Jim Stark is a man who dedicated more than three decades of his life to the MCSO Search and Rescue, before he said he was abruptly fired, with no information as to why he was let go.

Now, the former Air Posse commander is searching for answers.

"I expected to go out with some kind of fanfare, celebration, and how wonderful it had been, and remembering those lives I've saved," said Stark. "Guess what, I got a kick in the teeth."

Stark wanted to help, so in 1983, he stumbled onto a volunteer meeting in the Northwest Valley.

"I was sworn into the Air Posse in January 1984. That was 35 years ago this past January, and I've been continuously a member of the Air Posse since then," said Stark.

Stark has two life-saving medals, and said he has never missed a call.

But now, Stark said MCSO won't call him anymore. He said a few months ago, volunteers were asked to go through an interview process.

"The questions were somewhat ludicrous,' said Stark. "I've been through interview processes in my military career and others throughout the years, but we went through this process and I had no concept that there would be something in my record that would not meet Sheriff Penzone's standards."

It seems logical that stark would consider this a formality, but it was not.

"A month later, I had a letter from one of the lieutenants of enforcement support, informing me that I had not met Sheriff Penzone's standards and that I was being terminated from the Posse Program," said Stark.

The question is: why?

MCSO has provided FOX 10 with a statement, insinuating that a threshold to serve wasn't met. Stark, however, said they won't tell him what that is.

"They just simply say that they don't have a responsibility to tell us and they're not going to tell us, period," said Stark.