Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office, from horseback to high tech

Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office covers roughly 3,000 square miles with 728 miles of roadway and 218 miles of paved highway, serving about 12,000 citizens. While technology, crime and resources have changed over the years, the office holds a sense of tradition.

“We represent all things Wyoming, it’s just very simple,” current Sheriff Ken Blackburn said. 

Big Horn County’s first sheriff was instated in 1897, when Basin was selected as the county seat and the county itself truly organized.  

According to an American courthouse archive by John Deacon, multiple buildings were used as county offices at that time. A two-story log building built by W.D. Smith of Shell was rented as the first courthouse until it burned down in 1899. A small log building was erected to house court records until 1901, when a one-story brick courthouse was built in Basin by E.E. Blakely.

Blackburn explained that, back then, one man was tasked with the job of sheriff and clerk/treasurer. The jail was located in the courthouse, and the sheriff would balance office duties, feed prisoners and serve as an officer of the court, staying in the courthouse at night.

Wyoming was an even wilder west in those days, with cowboys often taking justice into their own hands. On July 19, 1903, a mob of about 50 men led by George Saban of Shell broke into the jail in search of two murder suspects. In their quest to lynch the men, they shot Deputy Sheriff C.E. Pierce in the chest, killing him. It was one of Wyoming’s last lynchings, and its first death of a detention officer in the state. 

The sheriff’s force gradually graduated to a three-man crew, with deputies riding their horses to the north end of the county for patrol. 

 “We do have several actual vouchers where they would rent horses from a livery stable or they would put their horses up, just like the old west movies,” Blackburn said. 

In 1916 construction started on Basin’s current courthouse. 

Blackburn recalled that, in the ‘80s, the jail was moved from the courthouse to where the county planning office currently is in Basin and ran there until the early ‘90s.

For a while, Big Horn County went without a jail and transported its prisoners to Washakie County. 

When Blackburn first came onboard in 1991, it was a five-deputy force under Sheriff Gary Anders. While they had graduated to vehicles by this point, one deputy was expected to cover the entire county by themselves as the others attended to other duties.

“The Sheriff’s Department has always been responsible for the daily care of the prisoners. That includes meals, laundry, everything,” Blackburn said. “Back in the day, it may very well be you had to cook a few meals and take them back to the prisoners. Now, we serve around 7,000 meals a month in the jail with prisoners.”

Sheriff Dave Mattis worked on a grant that helped build the new facilities in Basin in 2001, which can house around 85 prisoners. Big Horn County prisoners are joined by federal prisoners that the government pays the county to house, generating $1.5 to $2 million in revenue for the Sheriff’s Office each year.

Blackburn’s crew is up to about 15, with four deputies specifically assigned as School Resource Officers. Another serves as court security as needed, with deputies serving ancillary assignments on Search and Rescue.

Captain Deb Cooke has served at the Big Horn County Detention Facility since its opening day and chips in as a patrol officer when necessary. Deputy Tony Giles also works as dispatch coordinator on top of his patrols. Sergeant Jeff Angell is now also serving as Search and Rescue liaison. 

“We’re still covering Big Horn County with about eight to nine officers, which is only a few up from what we used to cover it with. ... The duties are increasing; it’s not uncommon for an officer to drive 400 miles during a shift,” Blackburn said. He even takes up patrols when necessary.

As Big Horn County’s population has grown over time, so have the levels of crime.

“A lot of people think nothing happens in Big Horn County, but there have been considerable increases of the severity and frequency of major felony crimes in the county,” Blackburn said. 

Blackburn reported a rise in assaults, domestic violence, homicides, suicides and drug-related crimes, including fentanyl. With uncertain economic times, property crimes have grown exponentially, as well. More than 1,400 man-hours have been spent on Search and Rescue efforts in Big Horn County in just the past few months. 

The current BHCSO team has investigated and processed more sex offenders than all sheriffs and police chiefs combined previously. Four homicides in 2024 and a tragic murder-suicide case in Byron in February have rattled the community in recent years.

On top of tackling crime, recent legislative changes are set to remove gun-free school campuses in Wyoming starting July 1, and the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office is looking at fine tuning and enhancing its current school response program. Law enforcement officials and school administrators are expected to have a county-wide meeting in July to tackle the issue.

“I am one of the biggest advocates of the second amendment there is in Big Horn County, no ifs, ands or buts, but along with that comes the responsibility to protect our children, and with the changes of guns in schools and those types of things … that is becoming a very difficult, stretched balancing act that we’re trying to maintain and trying to figure out as these changes take effect in July,” Blackburn said. 

Property tax cuts will also affect the Sheriff’s Office budget.

“We are experiencing budget cutbacks … and we’re well below the industry standard in Big Horn County for what we can pay our patrol, detention and dispatchers,” Blackburn said. 

“We are trying to balance a little bit of Mayberry, but with a darkening world and a divisive country, if you will. And with all of that, if you look at the police allocation models, we are woefully understaffed compared to what a normal model would be.”

On the upside, North Big Horn County Search and Rescue recently opened its new facilities in Lovell, supported largely by community donations, with South Big Horn County Search and Rescue set to receive a new building, as well. The Lovell annex also received a facelift last year; officers on the north end now have more office space. 

New computer technology allows officers to make their reports from their vehicles, rather than handwriting and typing them up later. Dash and body cams provide a more accurate narrative for the courts. Search and Rescue has access to boats, snowmobiles and drones when needed to get their job done. Recently, Blackburn “signed on the dotted line” for an iris scanner, which may replace fingerprinting technology in identifying suspects.

More training is available for present-day sheriff’s deputies. Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy used to require two weeks of 80 hours training in ‘70s, which is up to 14 weeks now. Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office has also developed its own field training programs and invested in an employee assistance program, with more thought given to mental health, peer debriefing and peer-to-peer counseling.

Blackburn referred to the old saying, “Wyoming is a small town with long streets.”

He described restaurants staying open for Search and Rescue teams after hours, citizens bringing crates of water out for officers working in the July heat and escorting winning high school teams home from their state tournaments.

“It’s heartwarming to know that your community is behind you. It’s just an amazing feeling when you know that your community has got your back,” Blackburn said.