Proper Policing in Blaine County
BY ISAIAH FRIZZELL
One of the best signs of a healthy community is its happiness and security considering the people keeping the streets clean. Blaine County is a growing cluster of twinkling towns, and with growth comes growing pains. Traffic, congestion and new faces unused to the local daily hustle—it’s a lot to manage from the city alone, not to mention the men and women patrolling the streets.
Blaine County Sheriff Steve Harkins has served the county for almost seven years now. How have things been going? Feedback from the public is overwhelmingly positive and
while there will always be crime and unjust acts, Blaine County is still one of the most sought-after regions in Idaho due to the safety and unabashed beauty, a community that looks after its own and the small-town vibe with sparkling city amenities. And, of course, the elk.
“I can think of way too many people calling to tell us that there is an elk eating their trees!” Sheriff Harkins laughs.
Community-Minded Team
It’s an intense and demanding job to monitor crime and keep peace with a focus on the community. Are things relatively calm considering the massive influx of transplants and immigrants?
When speaking with Sheriff Harkins, it’s clear he is proud of what has been accomplished and happy with the team he manages that interacts with the public. His administration as a whole is an experienced and community-minded team, steadfast to continue to uphold his word and the work they’ve accomplished together.
“We have worked very hard to build a cohesive team, a team that works together and supports each other,” said Harkins. “This leads to a positive culture and good morale. Our patrol division works very well together and so does our detection team. Both divisions work well together and work toward a common goal. None of these jobs are easy and it takes a special kind of person to be successful.“
Media Perception
Indeed, with the demands of the job, being firm yet friendly, and dealing with weather/terrain extremes, finding good deputies that the public is fond of is a difficult task, especially considering the tragedies that have occurred in the past 10 years. Immense public scrutiny on a very small minority somewhat put a sheen of negativity on the entirety of law enforcement across the country. The protests, the riots… in light of all this, how do you keep people wanting to serve and protect?
“Across the country it has been a challenge,” said Harkins. “Blaine County is not insulated from it, but we have a tremendous amount of support from our community and that is because our deputies work hard to be a part of the community. They represent me and my office on a daily basis and in every contact they have with our citizens and visitors. On a larger scale, I do believe we have less people interested in working in law enforcement and I believe some of this is due to the negative media attention over the past few years. I believe for the most part we live and serve in a community that supports us.”
“We just hired a new patrol deputy, Daniella Vargas. I hired her because I know she is more than capable of doing this job, but I also hired her because I love her story. She grew up here, went to Wood River High School and developed an interest at a young age in serving the community she grew up in. She chose her senior project with the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office. We have a lot of employees that also have great stories and how they became deputies for this office. The humorous part to me is that we wanted to spotlight Daniella and she kind of got thrust into the spotlight on our social media pages. I’m not sure she was really comfortable with this but she took it in stride and knows that this is part of the job. If you are going to serve your community, you must be a part of it and have a vested interest.”
As Chief Deputy Will Fruehling puts it, “Our team has been doing this job for a long time and because of this, things are cohesive. We rely on our experience, working together and with the community. I’ve been Harkins’ chief deputy, second in command at the Sheriff’s Office, for enough time to be in a position to know. I’ve had a front-row seat, so to speak, and it’s always a pleasure working with the community of Blaine.”
Traffic Enforcement
One of the goals of Harkins’ administration is finding quality deputies that work favorably with the public and this is actually even measured in a ratio of tickets given versus warnings — traffic tickets specifically, and exhaustive traffic is at least one issue the community can agree on.
“I believe in proactive traffic enforcement and my deputies are aware of my expectations. We average about 20% in the citation-versus-warning category – meaning, we issue citations only 20% of the time at a traffic stop. We are not operating a police state and my deputies have the discretion to issue citations or just warnings. I often hear from both sides from the public; some may feel we do too much and I also hear that we don’t do enough. I feel we have struck the right balance, and it makes our highways and streets safer.
“During my leadership as sheriff, I developed the STEP (Special Traffic Enforcement Program) team for our agency. When we have requests for extra enforcement for speeding, aggressive driving, DUI enforcement, deputies can sign up for overtime shifts. This, of course, depends on budget allowance and staffing.”
What is a normal day for the sheriff of Blaine County? “I focus a lot on helping with the day-to-day operations of the agency. Some of my duties require me to be in the office but I enjoy being out in the field as much as I can. I have developed strong relationships in this community for the past 33 years.”
Harkins takes part in a fair number of speaking engagements at schools, with community leaders and with each city about things like the Ketchum Comprehensive Plan and the Gateway Urban Renewal Project. His input is necessary to fine-tune the changes taking place across Blaine County.
New Technology
Does it take all manner of new, intrusive technology and guilty-before-innocent predictive tech models to maintain a highly functioning, happy community? Maybe not. The tech industry is just that – an industry and its goal is to make money. If you follow the money, you see whether it has been well spent or wasted. Harkins does not want a police state and it becomes clear his priorities are keeping his deputies, the public-facing officers in the community, well-trained and adapted to critical methods for dealing with situations, such as de-escalation and communication to keep the public safe. The very things you would expect in a well-adapted community.
“Technology is in a constant state of change, and we are very aware of new technologies on the horizon,” said Harkins. “A few years ago we purchased a VirTra Video Training Simulator. This offers deputies the chance to train in a controlled environment to enhance de-escalation skills, active threat training, mental illness training and communication. This has proven to be a valuable tool for us and has translated into better service for the community during critical incidents or incidents that could have quickly become critical. This was, in my opinion, leading technology that we invested in to train our deputies.”
Blaine County Detention Center
Some may not know it, but it takes quite a lot of money to run a jail and is a huge liability for taxpayers. Jails typically lose money; however, since Harkins has been sheriff, his administration has created nearly $5 million in to offset the revenue costs as a benefit to the taxpayers, but how?
“We house out-of-county inmates for the State of Idaho, and they pay us to house them. The revenue generates offsets for our operational costs.”
“Detention Center Revenue: The Blaine County Detention Center, which houses up to 90 inmates, is one of those teams. Since it was built in 2008, the Detention Center has generated approximately $9.5 million in revenue to help offset the operational costs, $5 million of which has been generated by Sheriff Harkins and his teams. Most of this revenue is derived from housing out-of-county inmates. Since he became sheriff in 2017, Harkins has committed to the taxpayers and county commissioners to operate the jail facility in the most efficient, effective, and fiscally responsible way possible under the statutory requirements.” (Blaine County Fiscal Year 2023 Operating Budget)
Sheriff Harkins is geared up about the work to be done in Blaine County. He acknowledges the problems his office faces, like much of the nation, with fentanyl. Drug enforcement is a top priority and with two new fentanyl-certified canines joining the team next month, they’ve got work to do. And though it isn’t as blatant in Blaine County as, say, Philadelphia, fentanyl is a dire problem.
“The number one issue I feel is a priority is fentanyl. While it is not new to Blaine County, it has really become a huge public safety issue. The drug cartels are manufacturing alarming numbers of counterfeit pills disguised as over-the-counter or prescription pills that contain lethal doses of fentanyl.
“I urge all parents to talk to their kids about these pills and that it only takes one pill to kill someone. I have heard so many tragic stories of fentanyl deaths in young people. On our end, we operate the Narcotics Enforcement Team (NET) and they are tasked with investigating drug crimes in Blaine County. They have put together numerous cases involving drug sales and drug interdiction in Blaine County and beyond. I am proud of the work they do. I managed the NET team for 17 years prior to being elected sheriff and I take pride in all we have accomplished.”
While managing 66 employees at BCSO, a patrol team, a detention team, investigations team and administrative support team, Harkins has all the keys in place and has put in the work to earn his 33 years of experience in law enforcement.
“All these roles are of equal importance to make this office operate with success. We have a lot of long-term employees that have worked here for 20-plus years and some that have worked here 30-plus years. Collectively, we have a lot of experience and work well as a team to tackle any issues that come our way. I have the utmost confidence in my staff, and our deputies are in this line of work for the right reasons.
“The Blaine County community is unique and diverse, and I have many friends with different views,” added Harkins. “I love that our community is passionate about helping others, and when there is someone in need, there is a strong support system to help, financially and in other ways. I also feel very blessed our Blaine County community supports and trusts our law enforcement. This support and trust makes a difference to the deputies who serve their community and the important job they do.”
Harkins is up for re-election this year and vies to continue and improve on the task of keeping Blaine County safe and secure. The voters of Blaine County have the power to choose their level of public safety. And with great power comes great responsibility.