(Lander, WY) – Fremont County Sheriff Ryan Lee provided a monthly update at the June 18 Fremont County Commissioners’ meeting.
Sheriff Lee started by saying the staffing levels in patrol and detention have become concerning. Their office is having difficulty obtaining experienced and certified peace officers due to salary disparities.
Their budgets are in good shape for the close of the current fiscal year. Overtime line items have been expended and are over. However, employee costs are under due to understaffing.
Detention intakes lowered in May. However, inmate holding has “risen sharply” over the last two months. Holding has averaged at around 160.
There were a total of 233 bookings in May, down 23 from April. The following is the breakdown of the bookings for December: 122 Riverton Police Department, 61 Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, 41 Lander Police Department, 4 Wyoming Highway Patrol, 5 U.S. Marshals, 0 Shoshoni Police Department, and 0 Dubois Police Department.
As of June 17, the current inmate population is 166 in-house and 169 in custody: 122 males, 41 females, 3 juveniles, 0 home confinement, 0 furlough, 3 state hospital, and 0 out-of-county adults.
49 have been sentenced: 38 males and 11 females. 120 are pre-adjudicated: 50 percent District Court, 46 percent Riverton Circuit Court, 4 percent Lander Circuit Court, <1 percent Riverton Municipal Court, and <1 percent Lander Municipal Court.
There have been 3,000 calls for service this year.
This fiscal year (beginning in July 2023), the FCSO has had 27 search and rescue missions compared to 31 at this time last year.
Six of those missions have resulted in fatalities, including a drowning last weekend at Trail Lake.
For more information, call the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office at (307) 332-5611.