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Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby, running for reelection, defends voter-driven law enforcement

Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby speaks in Midway Town Hall Wednesday.
Ben Lasseter
/
KPCW
Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby speaks in Midway Town Hall Wednesday.

Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby is running for reelection this year. In a town hall forum in Midway, he said his responsibility to voters’ interests is among his top priorities as an elected official.

About 50 Wasatch County residents showed up to talk to Sheriff Jared Rigby in a forum at Midway Town Hall Wednesday.

Rigby’s been Sheriff since 2019, and he’s wrapping up his first term. He told KPCW Thursday he will seek reelection this year. While the timing of the town hall was close to a milestone in this year’s election cycle, he spoke mostly about how he interprets and enforces the law.

He described how his department focuses its resources on crime it can realistically stop.

“We can make a difference when it comes to domestic violence. We can make a difference when it comes to individuals with arrest warrants. We can make a difference with protective orders and stalking injunctions.

About 50 Wasatch County residents showed up to Midway Town Hall to talk to Wasatch County Sheriff Rigby Wednesday.
Ben Lasseter
/
KPCW
About 50 Wasatch County residents showed up to Midway Town Hall to talk to Wasatch County Sheriff Rigby Wednesday.

He said his deputies don’t have the bandwidth to crack down on traffic violations or minor drug infractions, but they enforce those when they know about them.

As Sheriff, Rigby said a unified approach to law enforcement is “paramount.”

“What we’re trying to overcome, to some extent, is a culture of ‘any way it goes. In past years, there has been a culture of, any deputy gets to do it their way. No, that’s not how we’re running things.”

He also touched on his department’s role in Midway and Heber City. The Sheriff’s office provides law enforcement to Midway on a contract basis, and to the rest of unincorporated Wasatch County. He said it also collaborates with Heber City Police.

“We're willing to help cities and towns, but if they want to do their own thing or go a different direction, that's great too, and [we will] not be territorial about it. And then with that said, the Sheriff's office, we still have a minimum or a base level of service that I feel responsible to provide, regardless of whether Heber City has their own police department or not.”

He said an example of collaboration was assigning deputies to patrol in Heber while police officers were busy in training.

Some in the crowd wanted to know more about the Sheriff’s powers to defy state-level and federal directives, such as emergency mandates.

The group that organized the town hall, Defending Wasatch Back, describes itself as a network of Wasatch County citizens who support constitutional rights. Some who spoke claimed mask mandates were an example of the state violating constitutional law and asked the Sheriff what he’s willing to enforce.

Rigby said he believes that in his role as an elected official, he has room to defy some state law-enforcement directives by not enforcing them.

“So I've gone on the record that I would not be directing deputies to enforce any kind of health measures. So if that's specifically what we're talking about, that's where I stand on that issue.”

He previously said deputies wouldn’t enforce public health measures last February, when Rigby spoke at another Defending Wasatch Back town hall. The governor’s statewide mask mandate was still in effect then and lasted until April of 2021.

The election filing period for anyone who wants to run for the Sheriff’s office begins Monday, February 28 and ends Friday, March 4.

For more on the Defending Wasatch Back group, visit defendingwasatchback.com.

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