Northern Wyoming News - Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years

WORLAND – Wyoming law enforcement officers put their life on the line for their community's safety every day and the recent tragedies across the nation have not changed that fact, or changed the dedication that they feel to protecting and serving their communities. Communities filled with people just like them, people who think, feel, laugh, cry and love.

"Everybody works here and lives here, spends their money here. Most of the guys who are in law enforcement here live in town. We all pay taxes and interact with our neighbors and stuff like that. We are part of the community just like everybody else," Washakie County Sheriff Steve Rakness said.

The recent events have not changed the way that most Wyoming law enforcement goes about their day-to-day operations. "We are not doing anything different. We stress to our guys to use their officer safety (training), which they continue to do and to remember to stay vigilant. We haven't changed how we do anything as far as how we conduct ourselves with the public," Washakie County Sheriff's Office Captain Rich Fernandez said.

While law enforcement has not changed their day-to-day operations the tragedies are always in the back of their minds but they are kept positive by the community support that they have and are receiving.

"Our troopers are aware of the current climate in the country. We have talked about it, we have discussed it. We have asked our officers to make sure that they are being safe but on the flip side of that, the overwhelming support that we have seen from the public puts our minds at ease. We are in a very good spot in Wyoming," Wyoming Highway Patrol Lieutenant Karl Germain stated.

"The interesting thing is that on average, with law enforcement, face-to-face contacts with citizens is about 2.5 billion a year. Out of that 2.5 billion contacts, there are roughly 3,000 officer-involved shootings. The vast majority of those shootings are when someone is doing something bad and they are causing a reaction from an officer to get shot, so the majority of them are justified. There are, unfortunately, a few that are not justified shootings and those are normally found out in the court case but if you look at that 2.5 billion number which is a rough estimate, then you take the 3,000 shootings and do the math on it, it's a .000 something percent of the contacts that we have with citizens, on a national level in the country that result in a shooting. The shootings do happen, they are a reality, and we do talk about it. I think that when we put things into perspective, where we live, the support that we are fortunate to have in Wyoming, our officers are handling it just fine," he added.

Fernandez said the recent events, such as in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La., do bother him but he will continue to serve and protect to the best of his ability. "I can't speak for the other officers but for myself, it gives a little bit more stress but I also remember that I am very lucky to be where I'm at. I think that our community as a whole is a lot more proactive toward law enforcement than against it. But yeah the recent events do bother me and its, I don't really have a lot of words for it to be honest, it's just a feeling. But we are going to continue to provide good service to the community and to protect the community. For those that wish to support law enforcement, continue to support us, we know that we are not going to be considered everybody's biggest fan and we are OK with that."

He added that 99 percent of the community, while they may not always appreciate getting a ticket or forcing an officer to take some type of action, realize the necessity of what law enforcement does.

"Until you actually do this job it's really hard to understand what everybody does but that's just a given in a lot of careers," Fernandez said.

Being a law enforcement officer is a satisfying career for most officers despite the dangers. "Law enforcement is a calling, you get into the profession of law enforcement, not to make a lot of money, not to get rich, not for the prestige of it but you get into law enforcement to make communities safer, to be part of something that is bigger than yourself. I enjoy my job and I am thankful for my job. I couldn't think of wanting to do anything else. I enjoy interacting with people, I enjoy communicating with people, I enjoy helping people and there isn't a day that goes by where I don't get to do that. This is my dream, it's always been my dream to be in law enforcement," Germain said.

Wyoming officers make daily sacrifices so that their communities are safe. "I've missed a few birthday parties and anniversaries and other things over the years, whether it being in law enforcement or the military. That's part of my job, I get up every morning expecting to serve the public and do my duties as a police officer to serve and protect everyone here, no matter what their grievances are, no matter what their affiliations are, we try to serve everybody right straight down the middle of the line to make sure that everyone who has a problem or has an issue that we need to take care of, that we can do that," Rakness said.

Germain said, "The sacrifices that our families make are shift work, holiday work, weekend work. Sports games, family gatherings, plays at schools, parent-teacher functions all of that are sacrifices that your family has to make for you to be able to be in law enforcement. Then you factor in a lot of time away from home with training, trying to make sure that we have the best trained officers out there. That's part of the cost, you could be away for multiple weeks at a time. Then there is always the realization that this is a dangerous job and even if you are doing everything that you possibly can to keep your officers safe and yourself safe there are risks associated with law enforcement that might mean you might not make it home at the end of your shift. The families are buying into that principle of serving a cause greater than yourself by allowing their dad or mom, their husband or wife, their father or mother to go out and put their life on the line for everyone else."

Rakness added, "We are not perfect, we are human beings too, we try not to let those things come through, but sometimes those happen, but by and large in Washakie County, we don't see a lot of major issues here and I believe, if someone has a law enforcement problem, an issue or a problem with what law enforcement is doing, that they feel comfortable enough to come in here and tell us. Do we always have the right answers? No, but we try to make sure that we serve the public the best that we can.

"Do we always see eye-to-eye? No, we don't always see eye-to-eye, that's a given fact. A lot of people don't understand that there are some things that we can do and some things that we can't do as far as the legal issues. If people have questions, they need to come and talk to us, we are not clairvoyant, we can't read minds, so you have to come and talk to us."

Rakness added that he is proud that Worland is considered a safe place to live and raise a family, "Worland was voted as one of the safest places to live in Wyoming and that takes everybody's help, not just law enforcement but the community at large to make sure that that works."

This is the first of a two-part series.