Big Horn County Detention Officer earns state honor

BASIN - Big Horn County Detention Officer Craig Shidler was recently honored by the Wyoming Peace Officers Association as Detention Officer of the Year.

Shidler, who resides just outside of Cowley and is a Big Horn County native, began working for the Big Horn County Sheriff's Office in May 2010. He said he had an interest in law enforcement for years but never found the right avenue or opportunity. After working for the North Big Horn Hospital ambulance service (since 2007), he began having more interaction with deputies and applied for a detention officer position. In 2014 he went to the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy and complete peace officer basic training and began working as a part-time patrol deputy.

Shidler said he was recently moved to full-time patrol deputy but will continue to work part-time in the detention center in Basin.

"I was always hoping to get to patrol and I was offered a position with patrol about a week ago," Shidler said.

Shidler said he enjoys the people he works with throughout the sheriff's office, but noted there are definite challenges at the Big Horn County Detention Center.

"For a small facility we're pretty diverse. We hold federal inmates from various agencies - U.S. Marshals, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Prisons, as well as the State of Wyoming Department of Corrections plus our local county inmates," Shidler said. "It can be difficult at times. There's a wide variety of people that come in, facing a wide variety of charges. You have to treat them all equally."

Shidler and his wife Amanda have one daughter, Kinsley, 19 months.

OFFICER OF THE YEAR

According to the WPOA website, criteria for Detention Officer of the Year includes an officer who performs an act of outstanding service which brings credit to his department, community and himself; an officer who designs and implements a program which has major impact on law enforcement in the State of Wyoming; an officer who designs and implements a program which has major impact on law enforcement within his agency; an officer who is active in and promotes community programs; and consideration to outstanding years of service to law enforcement in the State of Wyoming and to officers who have provided progressive leadership of a law enforcement unit.

Regarding winning the award, Shidler said, "Honestly, I was blown away." He said he was traveling to Casper when he got a call that they couldn't keep it a secret because they needed him to change his plans.

He said he didn't know much about the Wyoming Peace Officers Association before receiving the award, adding that he didn't even know he was nominated.

"After attending the conference in August I've found it's a really great organization. They are a pretty awesome group of people," Shidler said, adding that it was not only an honor to win but also just to be nominated.

In her nominating letter, Capt. Deb Cook wrote, "Craig was hired as a detention deputy and immediately rose to the top of the crew. Craig showed a great desire to do the job and to do it to the best of his ability. A couple years after Craig joined our department, Sheriff [Ken] Blackburn promoted Craig to a road deputy and Craig attended the academy receiving full certification. Craig worked the road for Sheriff Blackburn for a little over a year, then returned to the jail and again became one of my best detention deputies.

"Craig has shown strong leadership and he is my training officer for all new hires. Craig does an excellent job training new officers with both a firm hand but also a fun atmosphere that makes new hires comfortable and well trained.

"Craig has taken an interest in gang activity in our area and has worked hard to put together a gang book for our jail facility with valuable information for the staff concerning gangs and traits of those gangs. Craig and another detention deputy requested and were allowed to travel to Seattle, Washington, to attend a regional gang conference.

"Craig not only works hard, shoulders responsibility and makes good, solid decisions, but he does so with the best attitude I could ask for. Craig knows when to be serious and when to be firm, but he also has a wonderful sense of humor that he uses with both his fellow deputies and the inmates. Craig has the ability to walk into a tense situation in a pod and take control and calm everyone involved. Craig is able to accomplish this because on a daily basis he treats the inmates with respect and asks for that respect back. Craig uses humor to build [rapport] with people, and is successful with that."

Sheriff Blackburn wrote in his nominating form, "Deputy Shidler deserves this honor as he has been a solid influence in the Big Horn County Detention Center.

"It should be noted that Deputy Shidler and the entire detention deputy staff have worked hard housing federal inmates that has produced over a million dollars in revenues for Big Horn County. This very significant accomplishment allowed the Big Horn County Detention Center to pay for all expenses involved by the jail.

"While the entire staff deserves recognition and in my opinion are all Officers of the Year, Deputy Shidler specifically and willingly returned to the jail from a road deputy position to assist in this effort.

"Deputy Shidler's team attitude places him at the top of the list this year."

As for what's next for Shidler, "I will continue serving the people in our communities."