By Cletis Steele, Carbon County Sheriff’s Office
Last week was a great week here at the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office. We were invited to spend some quality time with the students of Sally Mauro and Wellington Elementary during their annual Red Ribbon Week. During our visits, we had the opportunity to speak with the students (grades kindergarten through fifth) about drug abuse and we had the privilege of hearing their pledges about staying drug free. On Saturday, we had the opportunity to spend Halloween night with the children of Carbon County as they trick-or-teated in the community. This was a great idea by Sheriff Wood to allow our department to patrol and interact with our youth as they celebrated Halloween. We are happy to say that we did not have any major issues on Halloween night besides routine medical calls.
Last week was also a busy week for training. Drug Court Trackers Angie White and Aaron Powell were able to attend 16 hours of drug court training in Heber and Sgt. Taber Grange and Deputy Adam Cox were able to complete 16 hours of training regarding performance and accountability. Detectives Wally Hendricks and Dale Maxfield also received training credit for completing a webinar on revenge porn.
Over the past couple of weeks, our jail population has ranged from 55 to 70 inmates. We are currently at 63 with 19 being female. Over the past week, the majority of the offenses have been drug and alcohol-related offenses with some assaults, protective order violations and court-issued warrants.
Deputy Jesse Bigelow was recently deployed to serve our country. Prior to leaving the Sheriff’s Office for training in Texas, Deputy Bigelow never hesitated or showed any worry about his deployment or himself. With Veterans Day being on Nov. 11, Sheriff Jeff Wood and the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the members of our military (current and past) for all of the sacrifices they have made and determination they have in protecting our freedom and safety. In November, we hope that everyone has the chance to reflect on the fortunate life we are afforded because of the sacrifices our military makes on a daily basis.
Last week, we were informed that the COPS Grant we applied for was denied and only 17% of the applications were approved due to budget restraints. This would have allowed us to put two additional School Resource Officers in our schools. Our application for this grant is already being discussed for next year and we will continue doing all we can to make this happen.
November is upon us and the holiday season is near. With this in mind, please remember to lock your residence and vehicles. If you leave any valuables in your car, place them in the trunk where they are out of view. The holiday season is a desperate time of year for some criminals and they are looking for easy targets. Spend a little extra time on securing you valuables this season so you are not an easy target.
Holiday Tip: Take a picture of all of your valuables with your cell phone camera or other camera. The picture should include serial and model numbers. This should include jewelry, electronics, firearms and collections. This will not only help law enforcement but also with your insurance company.