© 2024 KPCW

KPCW
Spencer F. Eccles Broadcast Center
PO Box 1372 | 460 Swede Alley
Park City | UT | 84060
Office: (435) 649-9004 | Studio: (435) 655-8255

Music & Artist Inquiries: music@kpcw.org
News Tips & Press Releases: news@kpcw.org
Volunteer Opportunities
General Inquiries: info@kpcw.org
Listen Like a Local Park City & Heber City Summit & Wasatch counties, Utah
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Josh Probst to serve as interim Wasatch County Sheriff

Wasatch Interim Sheriff Probst and outgoing Sheriff Rigby
Wasatch County Undersheriff Josh Probst and outgoing Sheriff Jared Rigby

Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby announced his second-in-command will replace him on an interim basis when he leaves in January for a new job.

There’s a new sheriff in town.

Wasatch County Undersheriff Josh Probst will soon take the reins of county law enforcement as interim Sheriff.

Although Sheriff Jared Rigby was elected to serve a second term in November, he just got a new job with Peace Officer Standards and Training. In November, the state agency that oversees training, certifications and internal investigations announced Rigby as its new director. He’ll take over January 9.

Probst has worked for the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office for his entire 12-year career. He started in corrections, then worked as a patroller and K-9 handler. He was promoted to sergeant and lieutenant before being named undersheriff.

Probst said during the roughly month-and-a-half interim tenure, he’ll continue what Rigby established over the past four years.

“He's done a remarkable job, and I feel like we're on a really strong trajectory, and I don't plan on deviating from that,” Probst said. “There's really no reason to try to reinvent the wheel, and so I hope to keep the momentum that we have going as an office right now and continue to move in the same direction.”

Probst said he will seek the permanent job after the interim period.

The Wasatch County Sheriff oversees more than 100 employees between the investigations, patrol and administrative departments, and the county jail.

Ahead of his departure, Rigby said keeping a full staff to meet the demands of a fast growing county could remain one of the primary challenges of the next decade.

He also said keeping up with advancing technology can be difficult, mostly because it’s expensive and requires training. Still, Rigby said Wasatch County deputies should meet the community’s expectations that they use body cams, dash cams and other footage sources.

Probst said he plans to focus on relationships with the community, growing the department and retaining strong deputies and employees.

Rigby told KPCW Probst would be a good fit to take over the position full-time.

“Josh is the most capable,” Rigby said. “He is well rounded, has a family, lives in Midway, born and raised and Heber, cares a lot about education and training and all of those things that are super important in a use-of-force day and age that we're living in with a lot of important, controversial topics. He's open minded, and anyway for all of those reasons, I'm being very supportive of him in his bid for sheriff.”

Rigby hasn’t submitted an official letter of resignation to the Wasatch County Council. He said he’s waiting to clear some administrative hurdles in the hiring process at his new office.

Wasatch County Manager Dustin Grabau told KPCW the process for selecting a new full-time sheriff will officially begin when Rigby submits that letter.

After he does, the Wasatch County Republican Party, which Rigby chairs, will appoint a sheriff to serve for two years.

After two years, a special election will determine who serves as sheriff in 2025 and 2026, then the 2026 election will elect a sheriff for a regular four-year term.

Related Content