At the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office, new hire Kurt Cottrell is tasked with overseeing internal affairs investigations and background checks for new hires.
“My big thing for this is just to make sure that any of the things that I touch, especially with the IAs [internal affairs], with the backgrounds especially, that there’s just integrity, transparency and consistency,” he said.
Cottrell brings a decade of law enforcement experience to the role, plus nearly 20 years as an insurance fraud investigator.
Sheriff Jared Rigby hired Cottrell after two third-party investigations into the sheriff’s office in 2025, including allegations of retaliation, mismanagement and interference in investigations.
Retired Judge Richard McKelvie produced a 65-page report detailing his findings from interviews with about 30 current and former sheriff’s office employees. His report included eight recommendations for changes the office could make.
The Cache County Sheriff’s Office also created a report explaining its investigation.
Cottrell said he only “glanced at” the judge’s report because he wants to “stay out of that.”
“I haven’t, you know, gone into those deeply, because I was not here,” he said. “And I think that’s why he hired me, because I’m an outside look. I’m not related to these people. I don’t know them. I’m not part of any of the past that’s been going on.”
He said he does care about the concerns raised in the report, however.
“What I mean is, my goal is to move forward,” he said.
The scope of Cottrell’s job includes any internal policies or investigations. Any criminal allegations would be referred to the attorney general’s office or another outside agency.
When asked what has surprised him about his work so far, Cottrell praised the sheriff.
“One surprise, to be totally honest with you – and this is a true thing – is I was surprised how good the sheriff was, what a nice guy he is,” he said.
Cottrell reports directly to Rigby.
In December, when Rigby was asking the Wasatch County Council for funding to support the new role, Councilmember Spencer Park said he did not want the new professional standards director to report to the sheriff.
“I think it’s a resolution that we would do maybe in January, or at least look into, that that person would report to somebody outside of the sheriff's office, so that anything in there could be reviewed without fear of retribution,” he said at the Dec. 17 meeting.
Cottrell said he started work at the beginning of November – about six weeks before the county council approved funding the position.
Councilmember Erik Rowland told KPCW it might make sense to add some distance between the professional standards director and the rest of the sheriff's office.
“Personally, I do feel that we need to perhaps look at the reporting structure,” he said. “It does feel like with the intent of what this position is supposed to do, there should be some degrees of separation from management within the sheriff's department – just so that they have autonomy to perhaps make some difficult decisions if necessary.”
He said it’s important for the county to do all it can to ensure the public trusts the sheriff's office.
Cottrell said he has an “open door policy” and wants to hear from locals.
