(Fremont County, WY) – County 10 sent the following questionnaire to each of the Fremont County Sheriff candidates, ahead of next week’s August 18 Primary election. The answers from candidates who responded by the deadline are presented below, unedited and in alphabetical order.
Mike Hutchison
1. What do you think is the biggest issue that the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office faces, and what steps would you take to address it?
Assuming that this question refers to the operational aspects of the Sheriff’s Office, the most difficult issue in recent years has been maintaining adequate staffing. A combination of pay that was not competitive and an overall decrease in people wanting to work in Law Enforcement led to many problems in recruiting and retaining quality employees. That trend has begun to reverse and the Sheriff’s Office has rebuilt our staffing to adequate levels. There is always turnover, as with any profession, but hiring qualified personnel in Law Enforcement requires a much more intensive process, with physical fitness standards, background checks, psychological assessments and then an extensive training program. The time it takes to replace a single POST Certified employee (Dispatcher, Detention or Patrol) is far greater than in the private sector, and can take several months.
Recent increases in wages have made both recruiting and retention more effective as the Sheriff’s Office has become at least competitive with other local Law Enforcement Agencies. Moving forward the Sheriff’s Office needs to continue to offer competitive pay, provide a positive and supportive work environment, provide for the best available training and ensure employees have the tools and equipment that they need to do their jobs.
2. Fremont County regularly ranks as one of the top counties in the state in terms of crime. What do you think is the biggest contributing factor in that ranking, and what steps would you take to address it?
The overall ranking in crime in Fremont County includes all of the crime statistics from the cities and towns within Fremont County as well as the rural areas. The biggest contributing factor is substance abuse. Whether it is drugs or alcohol, substance abuse is a direct contributor to almost every crime Law Enforcement Officers deal with in Fremont County.
Fremont County needs an effective way to deal with the substance abuse problem, any real solutions will require the cooperation and coordination of the entire community including County government, Municipal governments, Tribal leaders and governments, as well as the private sector.
Local leaders have already joined together in the” Fremont County DUI Task Force” and have begun working towards solutions but the focus has been primarily on the issue of impaired driving. This has been a good start but Fremont County needs to also focus on the root causes of substance abuse. Fremont County needs effective treatment for both substance abuse and mental health beyond Law Enforcement and to give citizens options before they find themselves charged with a crime. This isn’t a task that the Sheriff can accomplish alone, but as Sheriff, I would advocate for a Countywide task force to develop solutions. The Sheriff’s Office has recently introduced two drug detection K9’s to our patrol fleet and in a relatively short time, those K9’s have already taken pounds of narcotics off of our streets. I would work to expand the Sheriff’s Office’s K9 and interdiction program to take more drugs off of the streets. I would continue to build and expand our partnerships with other local Law Enforcement Agencies.
3. Where do you stand on the proposed three-quarter percent sales tax? Please explain why either way. Is there anything about the proposed tax as written that you think voters/residents might have confusion about, or may be lacking clarity on? What effect would voting in favor of or against the tax have on the Sheriff’s Department?
I am somewhat conflicted, I want Fremont County to have top notch Ambulance services but I am apprehensive about bundling EMS funding with the other services. I am certainly in support of air service to Fremont County but I would have preferred to see the Tax for Emergency services only and include the local Volunteer Fire Departments that rely almost entirely on property tax revenues.
I know that the local elected officials put in a lot of time and effort into formulating the language of the tax and I feel that if it passes, it will be used in accordance with the language included, I am just not fully in support of bundling those services together.
If the tax passes, I do not foresee much impact for the Sheriff’s Office other than it could help free up County funds for other uses that the Sheriff’s Office could potentially utilize.
4. What county-wide issue do you think is the biggest drain on Sheriff’s Office resources?
As stated above in question #2, substance abuse and mental health issues are the largest contributing factors to crime in Fremont County and thus contribute most to the workload of the Sheriff’s Office employees. Most people only see the Patrol Deputies on a regular basis, but the entire Sheriff’s Office is affected. The Detention Deputies, the Dispatchers and the civilian staff are all integral parts of the Sheriff’s Office and all work together to accomplish the mission of the Sheriff’s Office. Every person arrested in Fremont County is housed at the Fremont County Detention Center (with the exception of arrests by BIA). Detention Deputies and Controllers work long hours taking care of every need of those in their custody and have to deal with the effects of addiction, withdrawal symptoms, and people in mental health crisis. This is an extremely difficult job and is both physically and mentally challenging. Dispatchers handle every call for service, every 911 call and are the first to begin to deal with a problem. It is often said that Dispatchers are the “First” First Responder. Dispatchers also work long hours with a heavy workload which is extremely mentally taxing. Civilian staff members handle an endless amount of paperwork and administrative duties. Every member of the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office is very, very busy and that workload is driven directly by the amount of substance abuse we see in Fremont County.
5. What specific strength would you bring to the role of Fremont County Sheriff? What is an area of weakness, or a subject matter that you would have to work on if elected? Can you think of a time when you failed at something, but overcame the failure or hurdle to work toward a solution that would apply to the role of Sheriff? Please elaborate.
With 19 and a half years of Law Enforcement experience in Fremont County, having served in several different roles including 7 and a half years as Undersheriff, I bring real, tangible experience, knowledge, and leadership. My career in emergency services includes 22 years as a volunteer Fireman in which I served two terms as Fire Chief giving me a unique perspective on Emergency Services. I have been with the Sheriff’s Office through some very tough times over the years, from budget cuts and manpower shortages to Covid. I have always believed that our employees are any organization’s most important resources and believe in honesty and integrity above all else. In this career, it is impossible to please everyone, but I have always tried to treat everyone fairly and with respect.
I never assume that I know it all, and know that I should never stop learning. Every subject matter that a Sheriff deals with may have a profound effect or consequences. Any Sheriff should do all they can to research and learn as much as they can about every topic they deal with. I have experience with every aspect of the duties of the Sheriff and know a great deal about most topics but always remind myself that there is always more to learn, and there is always the possibility of a situation that I haven’t encountered yet.
There are many instances that a strategy wasn’t effective or a plan did not work the way it was intended. Every failure should be looked at as a learning opportunity. It is imperative to listen and re-evaluate and seek advice from others.
Eric Murphy
1. What do you think is the biggest issue that the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office faces, and what steps would you take to address it?
Fremont County has more murders, violent crime, and property crime per capita than any other county in Wyoming. How we address that is the defining challenge facing the Sheriff’s office.
Fighting crime takes more than policy ideas — it takes building a department where resources are actually put to work. That means body cameras, dash cameras, 24-hour coverage, hot spot policing, drug interdiction, and a Citizens Advisory Board. These aren’t new ideas — I’ve been saying them from the start. What’s missing is a sheriff who will follow through and actually implement them.
It also takes visibility. A sheriff who shows up — for the deputies and for the community.
True leadership isn’t about dictating direction from the top. It’s about creating an environment where deputies feel comfortable bringing you problems, citizens feel heard, and that information shapes how the department operates. I will be that kind of sheriff — accessible, accountable, and always listening.
2. Fremont County regularly ranks as one of the top counties in the state in terms of crime. What do you think is the biggest contributing factor in that ranking, and what steps would you take to address it?
Crime and its prevalence in our communities is the defining problem facing Fremont County — and the Sheriff’s office covers a massive area trying to address it.
Being reactive isn’t enough. To actually prevent crime, we need to be visible, proactive, and we need to use proven strategies from jurisdictions that have dealt with crime at these levels.
That starts with data and input — from citizens and from the deputies working the street every day. We all know which areas in this county see more crime than others. Hot spot policing puts deputies in those areas, visibly present, deterring criminal activity before it happens. A deputy parked in a high-crime area isn’t just waiting — their presence alone changes behavior.
Citizen input drives this too. If residents in Pavillion are experiencing problems, a deputy can shift to that area and hopefully get ahead of it before it escalates. That kind of responsive, intelligence-driven deployment isn’t complicated — it just requires a sheriff who is actually listening and willing to act on what he hears.
3. Where do you stand on the proposed three-quarter percent sales tax? Please explain why either way. Is there anything about the proposed tax as written that you think voters/residents might have confusion about, or may be lacking clarity on? What effect would voting in favor of or against the tax have on the Sheriff’s Department?
The Sheriff serves the people and on August 18th, the people have their say.
I’ve heard a lot of confusion about how the proposed tax money would be appropriated and what effect it would have on the county. I’d encourage every citizen to review what’s been said, on both sides, and vote in a way that reflects their own values and priorities.
This is your decision. Make an informed one.
4. What county-wide issue do you think is the biggest drain on Sheriff’s Office resources?
The detention center. Over half of every dollar spent on the Sheriff’s Office goes to running the jail, and that number will only grow without a deliberate strategy to address it.
Here’s how we change that:
Drug Treatment Over Incarceration. Drug court costs $5,000 per person annually versus $19,000 to incarcerate them.
Inmate Work Programs. Inmates who work cost less to house, cause fewer incidents, and reoffend less after release.
Pretrial Supervision. A significant portion of our jail population hasn’t been convicted of anything — they’re waiting on trial. Ankle monitoring and check-in programs cost a fraction of a jail bed.
Warrant Resolution. Unserved warrants keep low-level offenders cycling through the system. A focused clearance effort reduces population spikes.
Hot Spot Policing. Fewer crimes mean fewer bookings. Prevention pays dividends in reduced detention costs downstream.
Telehealth for Medical. Medical is the most volatile line item in the detention budget. Telehealth contracts reduce transport costs and outside provider bills significantly.
The detention center will always be expensive. The goal is to make sure the people in it are the ones who need to be there.
5. What specific strength would you bring to the role of Fremont County Sheriff? What is an area of weakness, or a subject matter that you would have to work on if elected? Can you think of a time when you failed at something, but overcame the failure or hurdle to work toward a solution that would apply to the role of Sheriff? Please elaborate.
Tenacity.
When I say I will do something, I am resolved to get it done. I fail — I fail every day. But I get up, take the lesson, and move forward. That’s not a speech. That’s what the military and my FBI training hammered into me until it became part of who I am.
Every morning you wake up with a directed plan. You do the hard things. Every night you take stock — what worked, what didn’t. Then you make a new plan, go to sleep, and do it again.
I can list every job title, every certification, every training on my résumé. But the thing that got me through all of it is the same thing that will get me to that office every morning with a purpose: to serve the people of Fremont County and make the Sheriff’s Office better than I found it.
That doesn’t stop. Ever.
John Zerga
1. What do you think is the biggest issue that the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office faces, and what steps would you take to address it?
Morale.
If you want to know the health of a law enforcement agency, don’t start by asking the people at the top. Talk to the deputies working the road, the detention deputies in the jail, the dispatchers answering calls, and the staff keeping the office running. Ask whether they feel supported, whether their work matters, and whether they are proud of the organization they work for. Their answers will tell you a great deal about the quality of leadership in that agency.
Morale starts at the top. The Sheriff and Undersheriff set the tone. When morale is suffering, leadership has an obligation to look inward and ask why. Those who have already served at the highest levels of an organization also have to be willing to be judged by what improved, or didn’t improve, while they were in those positions.
My priority is bringing this Sheriff’s Office back together as one team. Fremont County is far too large for Riverton, Lander, Dubois, the detention center, dispatch, and the rest of the Sheriff’s Office to function like separate islands. A deputy working one end of this county should know the entire organization is behind him or her.
That takes more than speeches about teamwork. It takes leadership being present, listening to employees, recognizing good work, communicating expectations, holding everyone to the same standards, and standing beside employees when they do their jobs correctly.
I want to rebuild that sense of family and pride in the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office. Take care of the people doing the work, and they will be better equipped to take care of Fremont County.
2. Fremont County regularly ranks as one of the top counties in the state in terms of crime. What do you think is the biggest contributing factor in that ranking, and what steps would you take to address it?
Drugs.
Substance abuse drives an enormous amount of the crime and human suffering law enforcement encounters in Fremont County. Fentanyl has made that problem considerably more dangerous. It is affecting young and old alike, and we cannot allow it to become so deeply rooted that another generation grows up believing this is simply a fact of life here.
We have to fight the problem from both directions.
On the supply side, law enforcement needs to be aggressive and proactive. Identify the people bringing fentanyl and other dangerous drugs into our communities, work closely with our local, state, tribal, and federal partners, follow cases beyond the street-level transaction, and dismantle the supply networks putting this poison into our county.
At the same time, arresting users over and over without addressing addiction doesn’t solve the problem. If someone genuinely wants a way out, we should be equally aggressive about connecting that person with treatment, rehabilitation, and appropriate mental-health resources.
There is no contradiction between those approaches. Hold the people profiting from this misery accountable and give the people trapped in addiction a legitimate opportunity to get their lives back.
The goal is simple: fewer drug dealers, fewer repeat arrests, fewer families destroyed by addiction, and fewer people becoming another statistic in our jail or Coroner’s Office.
3. Where do you stand on the proposed three-quarter percent sales tax? Please explain why either way. Is there anything about the proposed tax as written that you think voters/residents might have confusion about, or may be lacking clarity on? What effect would voting in favor of or against the tax have on the Sheriff’s Department?
I don’t believe the Sheriff should become the political commentator for whatever tax controversy happens to be before the voters. The Sheriff’s responsibility is to protect and serve Fremont County and make the best possible use of whatever resources the people and their elected representatives provide.
I will say this: Fremont County deserves a dependable, high-functioning ambulance service. The people also deserve a clear and straightforward opportunity to decide how they want to pay for it.
People shouldn’t need a doctorate in politics to figure out what a ballot question means or what they are actually voting for.
If ambulance service is the question, put ambulance service before the voters. Explain what it will cost, where the money will go, establish meaningful accountability for how those tax dollars are spent, and let the people decide.
I trust Fremont County voters to make that decision when the question is presented clearly and honestly.
Whatever the outcome, my responsibility as Sheriff would remain the same: operate within the resources available, account for every public dollar entrusted to us, and provide the best law enforcement service possible.
4. What county-wide issue do you think is the biggest drain on Sheriff’s Office resources?
Substance abuse and mental health.
If you put a pin on a map for every substance-abuse or mental-health-related call we respond to, you would quickly find places with so many pins you could hardly read the map. Deputies are returning to the same addresses, neighborhoods, and sometimes the same families again and again.
Every response has a cost: deputy time, dispatch time, fuel, jail resources, court resources, and taxpayer dollars. More importantly, repeated calls involving the same underlying problem tell us we aren’t actually solving it.
Law enforcement will always respond when someone needs us, but the Sheriff’s Office cannot arrest its way out of every social problem.
We need to work with treatment providers, mental-health professionals, community organizations, and other agencies to address the root causes where possible. Breaking even a portion of that cycle means fewer repeat calls, fewer people cycling through our jail, and deputies having more time to proactively police a county covering thousands of square miles.
It also means resources can be redirected toward competitive pay, retaining good employees, training, and giving our people the equipment they need to serve Fremont County safely and effectively.
Success shouldn’t simply be measured by how many calls we answer or people we put in jail. Leadership should also be asking what we can change so we aren’t answering the same call involving the same problem five years from now.
5. What specific strength would you bring to the role of Fremont County Sheriff? What is an area of weakness, or a subject matter that you would have to work on if elected? Can you think of a time when you failed at something, but overcame the failure or hurdle to work toward a solution that would apply to the role of Sheriff? Please elaborate.
My greatest strength is steady, consistent leadership.
A Sheriff’s Office doesn’t need its leader distracted by every bit of noise around him. It needs someone who can stay focused on the mission, make decisions, accept responsibility for those decisions, support the people doing the work, and move the organization forward.
The next Sheriff isn’t simply going to inherit an organization and put his name on the door. There are problems that need to be addressed and relationships that need to be rebuilt. Some people seeking this office have already had opportunities to serve at the highest levels of leadership within the Sheriff’s Office. I believe it is fair for the public to look at those records and ask what changed during that time.
I’m not running to explain why things have remained the same. I’m running because I believe this organization can be better, and I’m prepared to do the work required to get it there.
As for a weakness, this campaign has confirmed something I already knew: I’m not much of a politician.
I communicate much better sitting across the table from somebody than I do standing behind a microphone. Anyone who has watched me at public events over the last six months probably already knows that. I haven’t gotten much better at polishing my answers or telling a room what I think it wants to hear.
I’m comfortable admitting that because I’m not running to become a better politician. I’m running to be Sheriff.
One failure that taught me a great deal came earlier in my career. There was a period when I allowed the job to consume too much of me. I spent too much time at work and not enough time at home while my children were growing up. You don’t get those years back.
I was fortunate to have a strong wife, a strong family, and a relationship with God that helped me recognize what needed to change. I made those corrections. Today our family is stronger than ever, our kids have grown into healthy and successful adults, and one of my sons has chosen a life of service himself and is now a deputy with a larger law enforcement agency.
That experience changed the way I look at leadership. Law enforcement will take everything you’re willing to give it, and sometimes more. A good leader remembers that the people working for him aren’t just uniforms filling a shift. They are husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, with families waiting for them at the end of a long shift.
I expect hard work, professionalism, and accountability. But I also learned from my own mistakes that taking care of your people means recognizing that their families matter too. A deputy who gives this county twenty or thirty years shouldn’t look back and wonder whether the job cost him everything that mattered outside of it.
I failed at that balance before. I learned from it. And that lesson will absolutely influence the kind of Sheriff I intend to be
Your Voice. Your Safety. Your Sheriff.
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