Speculation came flying to the Niobrara Sheriff’s Facebook page. Participants in the Facebook game “Find the Officer Friday” were trying to answer which country road a local sheriff’s deputy had just visited based on a photo she shared.

Erection path? Hat Creek Road? Kirtley? Silent hill?

The fog had obscured all landmarks and fooled even the oldest residents of Niobrara County. One clue was discarded. The road was 10 miles from Lusk. More guesses came. Silver Springs? Petz Trail? Indian Creek Trail?

Finally, MP Ashley Clark posted: “This was on Gravel Pit Road.”

You could almost hear the collective groan as those on social media admitted they had been stumped.

Niobrara County is the least populated county in the state of Wyoming with a population of 2,480 people. Nicknamed the “Crossroads of the West,” it is located in the high plains, where residents rely primarily on agriculture with ranches stretching for miles around. Despite the small population, Niobrara County faces unique problems as it is also a major travel route for those traveling from Denver to the Black Hills of the Dakotas.

The Niobrara County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Division has positions for three full-time deputies who, along with the sheriff and undersheriff, patrol seven days a week, protecting the towns of Lusk, Manville, Van Tassell and Lance Creek. . They work closely with the Wyoming Highway Patrol, Lusk Municipal Police Department and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Find the deputy on Friday

It was Sheriff-elect Randy Starkey’s idea to highlight his rural county on Facebook with posts he called “Find Friday’s Deputy.” The plan was for his two patrol deputies, Deputy Clark and Deputy Daniel Applegarth, to post photos on their ‘Niobrara Sheriff’ Facebook page without naming the road. It would be up to residents to see how well they know their hometown.

“It takes about a minute or two,” Deputy Clark said. “We usually have an idea of ​​where we want to go and we try to include all the roads in the county. Sometimes it depends on where we are called. “We’ll finish a call and if we have time, we’ll run to an area and take a picture.”

The challenge for deputies is to find an area that is not too familiar to them but is still guessable by those who know the area.

“Sometimes we’ll have a reference point in the background that makes it easier than other times,” Clark said. “For example, our photo (October 18) was in the fog. It took a lot of guesswork to get it, but the image above, they guessed right away.”

Humanizing the badge

The posts serve several purposes, including achieving greater public interaction and highlighting the beauty of Niobrara County.

“We’re just trying to humanize the badge. We want them to realize that we are people and that we are in the community,” Clark said. “We want them to feel safe, to talk to us, to tell us things and to report the crimes that are happening so that we can investigate them thoroughly.”

The reaction has been favorable and Clark enjoys reading the comments.

“We occasionally get jokes from people who make comments about looking for donuts and things like that,” he said. “We love the feedback and so far it has all been positive. “We would like to keep it that way.”

Comments that made Clark smile included a guess that the officer’s truck was “out of gas, out on the lonely prairie” and “Wake up! We caught you napping. Did you think we wouldn’t find you?

“We have quite a few of those,” Clark said. “We laughed and moved on.”

Highlighting the vastness of Niobrara County

“We cover about 2,600 square miles in the county,” Clark said. “We like to show the beauty of our county while also showing the difficult terrain we have to navigate as we respond. “I don’t think some of the residents understand that it could take a while to get there, because of how far we have to travel and the terrain and the elements when it’s winter.”

In a rural county, the sheriff’s office faces problems that those who live in larger cities and metropolitan police department areas would not expect.

“Our primary functions are to address ranchers’ livestock problems,” Clark said. “We deal with a lot of driver assistance. “We just want everyone to be safe while traveling through our county.”

Disputes are another problem facing law enforcement in rural Wyoming.

“We do everything from checking for brand compliance to making sure livestock are off the roads,” he said. “Unfortunately, we also have reports of stolen and missing livestock, and we do everything we can to investigate them.”

Clark also encourages locals and those driving through the area to join his Facebook page because the platform serves as a good way to communicate to the public about road closures and crashes. Their goal is to keep people informed and safe in Niobrara County.

Recruitment tool

The Facebook page has another purpose, Clark admitted. The Niobrara Sheriff’s Office is actively recruiting new deputies. He said they want people who want a rural lifestyle and enjoy the outdoors.

“We are short of personnel and we are looking for candidates. We always accept applications from qualified people,” Clark said. “It’s a calm and safe environment.”

The Facebook page and weekly posts have given Clark and Applegarth the opportunity to connect with their community. Clark especially loves showing off the county and the beauty that surrounds it. He also likes having a smaller population so he can know more people in Niobrara County by name.

“We love dealing with our audiences and we get to know them on a deeper individual level,” Clark said. “We like it to be safe here.”

Contact Jackie Dorothy at [email protected]

Jackie Dorothy can be reached [email protected].