October 31, 2025 • 35 mins
Flathead County spans an area the size of Connecticut—and for Sheriff Brian Heino, every mile tells a story. Raised here, he’s fought wildfires in these forests, walked these roads in uniform, and now leads a department balancing explosive growth, seasonal surges, and shifting expectations. In this candid conversation, Heino traces his path from Forest Service firelines to law enforcement, sharing the moment he realized that serving this place was more than a job.
We dig into the realities behind the badge: skyrocketing call volumes, fentanyl and meth challenges, and the ripple effects of mental health funding cuts and an overburdened detention facility. Heino explains how his team adapts through smarter outreach, training, and tools that prevent tragedy—alongside the quiet victories that keep them going, from letters of gratitude to second chances that stick. It’s a grounded, human look at what it takes to keep the Flathead safe while protecting the values that make it home.
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The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or production team. Appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement of any goods, services, or opinions discussed. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered professional, legal, medical, or financial advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on the content of this show.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:03):
Welcome to the Heart of the Flathead, where we sit
down with the change makers, theunstung heroes, and everyday
folks who give this place itsfault.
If you live here, love here, orjust want to know what makes
Callus Bow and the Valley tick,you're in the right place.
And now here's your host, DaveWigginton.
SPEAKER_01 (00:20):
Welcome everyone to Heart of the Flathead.
I'm excited to have uh SheriffBrian Haino on the podcast uh
for this episode.
Brian, welcome, thanks forjoining us, and welcome to the
Heart of the Flathead.
Yeah, great to be here andbeautiful morning.
So excited to have thisopportunity.
So great.
Yeah, there's a lot, a lot goingon in the world, I guess, of the
Sheriff's Department Sheriff'sDepartment, always, but
(00:43):
especially now.
But um I know you uh recentlydid a podcast with the chamber
talking about some of the thethe pluses of of the of the new
jail and why we need that.
And so today I kind of want totake a little different tact and
wanted to get to know you alittle bit more and allow the
community to kind of see you asyou know not as a sheriff per
se, but as as the the personthat you are.
(01:03):
And I've had an opportunity tomeet you this year and and
attend some presentations andtalk to you a little bit.
So it's I'm excited to be ableto do this for our community
because I think they would uhbenefit to know the the good
person that you are and thegreat things that you're trying
to do.
So why don't we uh dive intothat?
So Brian, give us a littlebackground where you're from,
what you've done in life, andkind of what you've learned and
(01:25):
how you've ended up where youare today.
SPEAKER_02 (01:28):
So I grew up in Calspell.
Actually, we parents had a placeon the east side of Calspo for
years.
Uh, went to Hedges, my Almorada,I guess I could.
And then and went to FlatheadHigh School in '96, I graduated.
That time I met this girl that,you know, she was running off to
go to college in in Wyoming.
And I thought that'd be a goodopportunity to, you know, go see
(01:50):
the world a little bit.
During that time, I was actuallyworked for the U.S.
Forest Service Fighting Fires.
Well, it's out of Hungry Horse,actually.
And it was an amazingopportunity.
Got to see some beautifulcountry and you know, became the
Jewel Basin Ranger, worked inthe Bob Marshall, the North
Fork.
So I kind of got paid to do anamazing thing up there.
So anyway, so like I said, Iwent to Wyoming and got a degree
(02:13):
in police science, and my wifewas in Del Hynjid school at the
time.
And uh, I thought theopportunity that you remember
the store Cabela's.
Yeah.
So yeah, Cabela's was like, youknow, I thought I could be a
product tester for Cabela's, andmy wife would work, and then I
would just do that for a living,and that didn't didn't happen.
SPEAKER_01 (02:34):
So I it sounds like you just wanted to play for play
professionally, right?
You wanted to be in the BobMarshall, you wanted to be doing
all kinds of different thingsand just having fun.
SPEAKER_02 (02:41):
I think every kid at the age of uh you know 19 to 21
has a dream of you know gettingpaid to do those amazing things.
But so a couple guys in theForce Service, kind of you know,
from LEOs to everything else,said, You know, have your
thought about law enforcement?
And I said, you know, I I guessI haven't.
My wife's dad was a U.S.
Border Patrol agent for you know30 plus years.
(03:04):
So, you know, we kind of talked.
And so I got out of college andmy wife still had a year left,
and I did this shotgun approach.
And it was one of these, like,well, it's funny.
She's like, you kind of need areal job.
So she, you know, I didn't haveinsurance and all that kind of
stuff.
So I I did this shotgunapproach, and I mean, I taught I
put my applications out from thefederal government to other
(03:27):
agencies to locally to Calspell.
I mean, I just did everything Ipossibly could.
And the Sheridan PoliceDepartment called me back and
where we were going to collegeat the time, and they said, Hey,
uh, you know, you want a job?
And you know, when you're younglike that, you're just getting
out of college.
I took the first opportunity I Ipossibly could and and went to
work for there.
And grade eight organization,and I had some amazing
(03:49):
leadership there that kind ofyou know started that guidance
portion.
And then I came home one day andso Brian, how many years how
many years were you insured in?
Uh about two and a half, liketwo-ish years, you know.
So total, I'd say, you know,three to four because we were,
you know, going to college anddoing all that kind of stuff.
But yeah, it was an amazingplace.
SPEAKER_01 (04:09):
So did you get married when you were in
Wyoming, or did you get marriedafter you moved back to Montana?
Uh, we did we got married in inCalispel.
SPEAKER_02 (04:17):
So the I was working at the at the police department,
I had we're pretty new, and Ihad to submit a request to go
get married in in Calspell.
I still remember the mayor'sletter.
It says, I believe a man shouldattend his own wedding much like
he should attend his ownfuneral.
So he uh he granted me the leaseto go get married.
Yeah.
So yeah, so we started outthere, came home one day.
(04:39):
My wife was pretty upset.
She wanted to move back home.
So I I applied for both CalspellPolice Department and the
sheriff's office, and I gotselected right away and and got
to move back home.
So it as we were very fortunate.
We have three kids.
So we have old are they?
I have an 18-year-old and two16-year-olds that are twins.
(05:01):
And you don't realize howfortunate you are to have your
family around when you you havethree children and diapers and
you're trying to you knowbalance that every single day
and work a job and do that kindof stuff.
So pretty fortunate to have allour family here.
You know, her parents, myparents, my grandparents, and
you know, even before that werein Montana.
(05:22):
So it was pretty cool to to comeback and and have this
opportunity to come back to thehouse.
SPEAKER_01 (05:27):
So were you were you did you have kids?
Did your wife give birth here inCalisbell or when you were still
living in Sheridan?
SPEAKER_02 (05:33):
Oh no, we we were we had that uh we were danks,
double income, no kids for awhile, and had a a good time up
while we were in Sheridan.
Uh, you know, traveled a bit,and then when we came back home,
we we started having kids.
So nice Jack and so yeah.
So it was pretty amazingopportunity, like I said,
started here in 2003 now.
SPEAKER_01 (05:54):
And so is this at the sheriff's department or at
the police department at thetime?
SPEAKER_02 (05:57):
No, been at the sheriff's office the whole time.
Okay.
Had some amazing opportunitieshere as well.
I I mean, I I look back on mycareer and and got to be an
undercover narcotics agent.
I got to uh run the search andrescue, the posse divisions, you
know, work patrol, just to youknow, like I said, the variety
of work at a at a as a sheriff'sdeputy is amazing.
(06:20):
I mean, you never really knowyou could be dealing with an
animal control complaint, andthe next day you're on a boat
looking for somebody, and a daylater you're you know dealing
with you know it's just thisvariety of work.
SPEAKER_01 (06:31):
It's amazing.
So yeah.
And and you like that then.
That's appealing to you, beingable to do something different
every day.
SPEAKER_02 (06:38):
Yeah, I think there's you know, it breaks up
the career.
You know, twenty years is a longtime.
And when you start looking atthe the shift work we do and uh
the stress levels that we dealwith, and you know, kind of
sometimes dealing withindividuals that they're
sometimes worse times, we wehave to break that up a little
bit and and look at thepositives of it.
(06:58):
Search and rescue is an amazingopportunity that's you have
multiple volunteers that are aresacrificing their time to you
know help us out.
Same thing with the posse andreserve programs.
I mean, so good people, you gotto interact with them, and it
kind of recharged me, I think,you know, because you go through
these ups and downs, like man,it's it's you know, it's been a
(07:20):
rough couple weeks, and then allof a sudden, you know, you get
this opportunity to work withthose amazing people and kind of
recharges you and says, Hey,there's there's good people out
there still.
SPEAKER_01 (07:29):
So Yeah, you know, it's one of one of the common uh
threads, I think, so far.
We're we're early on on thispodcast, but we hear a lot from
the folks in our community justthat we've interviewed about how
amazing the people are in ourcommunity.
And granted, yeah, we've we wedo deal with some challenges at
times, but on a net basis, itseems like we've got a really,
really great community full of alot of great people.
(07:50):
So and obviously you're you're apart of that that network.
So appreciate that.
You know, law enforcement is isobviously not an easy job.
I mean, it's obviously somethingyou weren't necessarily planning
on initially when you when youuh uh graduated high school, but
now that you've you've been init for so many years, it it's
gosh, what what what do you findto be the most challenging thing
(08:12):
in in your role as a sheriff'sdeputy and now as the the sh the
county sheriff?
SPEAKER_02 (08:16):
You know, I I think law enforcement is constantly
changing.
I mean, I think that's onething.
I mean, it's good and bad,right?
So, you know, when I started, wereally didn't have you know
cellular phones as much as we donow.
You know, we've had a lot oftechnology basically, you know,
that's been dumped in our lapsthat we're learning every day.
(08:37):
I think it's also the variety ofpeople and calls, you know, it
definitely has changed over theyears.
Who would have thought, youknow, that we would be sitting
here today with what 115 to130,000 people in our community?
And you know, when we all when Igrew up here, you know, I think
there was probably maybe40,000-ish people.
(09:01):
So there's a lot of uh changeswith that.
So population and amount ofpeople, the the the new data,
the new technology stuff thatyou're constantly learning.
And the sheriff, I think Ialways tell people, I says, if
you're gonna run for a politicaloffice, don't do it during a
pandemic.
I mean, it I got elected in 19,so I didn't really know about
(09:21):
it.
But that was probably one of themost challenging things for any
leader, I think.
We saw a lot of people that, youknow, were attacking law
enforcement.
We lost many individuals in thatfield.
We had, you know, kind of thiscouldn't go out and socialize
with people, all these differentdynamics, and not to mention all
(09:43):
the unknowns that we wereconstantly dealing with.
And then you got this hugepopulation growth right after
the fact.
And that's been probably one ofthe hardest challenges we've had
is it's just we always sawgrowth in this community.
I I think if that makes sense.
We always saw the you know, the3% kind of individuals that were
coming here, and then all of asudden it was just massive.
(10:06):
I mean, I I think we can alldrive around now and go, holy
cow, there's just you know, I Ican tell you when Home Depot and
Lowe's and all that, that wasthat was a gravel pit, you know,
and now it's all developed up,or you know, even taking the
south end of the valley, thatwas mainly farmland, and now
it's you know housingdevelopments.
And so it's just that thatchange almost from a smaller
(10:30):
community to a pretty urban one.
So I think those changes we'veadapted to because you have to.
And it's just that that we'reconstantly evaluating.
SPEAKER_01 (10:41):
The biggest advice I give people.
Go ahead.
I was just gonna say, how haveyou adapted to that?
I mean, it's uh it seems likeit's a big challenge when you've
got that big of a populationincrease.
Has your has your forceincreased or different tactics
or what what what have you guysdone?
SPEAKER_02 (10:55):
You know, I force no.
I think we got one one or twoextra positions at this point,
some of them grant funded.
But we've basically we did someonline reporting, right, to try
to take those smaller entitiesout there, uh, use our phones a
lot more than we used to.
We used to go to more residents,so some of those adaptions have
occurred.
(11:16):
But we've also, you know, I Ithink we've gotten better at
through technology uh outreachto communities, right?
So we can now contact people,such as you know, this format or
any kind of format to you knowkind of let people know what
things are going on.
I I I I sometimes look at dataand I I look back and I think,
(11:38):
oh my gosh, it just feels likeyou know, there's so much going
on.
I think we publicize it morethan we ever have before.
People are more aware now thanyou know, I think when we did
before.
So, and and I think that's likeyou know, there's a disturbance
at the neighbor's house, and forlaw enforcement goes up there.
You know, 20 years ago, weprobably would have never known
about it.
Now somebody's taking a pictureof it, putting it on, you know,
(12:01):
social media.
There's more of an awareness.
I think we advertise that more.
I don't think that's always badbecause I think people now
understand how busy you know lawenforcement services are, but
it's definitely more challengingin the fact that you kind of get
that feeling like, wow, there'sjust so much more going on.
I was just looking at crimestatistics the other day from 20
(12:22):
to now.
We've stayed pretty consistent,like in call volumes and what
we're dealing with.
It's just you know, we we aredealing with more mental health
issues and drug issues than weever done before.
And that does fall on the backsof law enforcement, which I
think we can do better at, andI'm hoping we do better at in
(12:42):
the future.
But yeah.
So we just face thosechallenges, we look at things,
we have very smart individualsthat you know work in the
organization that do amazingthings.
Uh we provide the the besttraining that we can afford all
the time to from that being ouryou know, keeping our guys safe
to you know driving to mentalhealth preparedness, how to deal
(13:03):
with those types of scenarios.
So you know, we invest heavilyin our people.
SPEAKER_01 (13:08):
So is that is that just is that a result, the
mental health and the the drugs,is that just really a result of
just the increased population,or has something else changed in
the community that's led toincreased incidences of those
types of situations?
SPEAKER_02 (13:22):
Well, basically, in you know, about 17, a lot of the
funding that was funding thosetypes of services was cut.
And so I don't think we reallysaw those results until you know
we're really seeing it now.
And then you add that populationon top of it, and I think it
really is exacerbatingeverything that we see.
So more people not really havingareas or placement for
(13:45):
individuals that are in crisiscare.
We, you know, drugs aredefinitely we I still don't
think we know the true effectsof fentanyl and some of these
other drugs that are coming out.
I mean, think I think ofmethamphetamine, we're starting
to learn that you know it's it'sfrying those dopamine receptors
and it's it's kind of turningthem into, you know, they don't
have an emotional response andit messes with them.
(14:06):
So yeah, I mean it's definitelytied.
It's just more people, you know,this this generally the same
amount of law enforcement, andyou know, there's nowhere to
really medically put them.
So they end up in our facilitiesand they're dealing with law
enforcement.
SPEAKER_01 (15:31):
You know, throughout these last five years, six years
that you've been sheriff,obviously there's been a huge
change, at least nationally, andthe perception of law
enforcement.
You kind of alluded to this inyour one of your comments
earlier on here.
What's uh what would you wantthe public in general to know,
like what you guys are doing andand why you're doing it and why
(15:52):
it's important?
And I think that I think this isI think this is key because most
people are grateful to have lawenforcement and for the efforts
that you made.
But there's there's a smallpopulation that are, I don't
want to say anti, but just maybedon't understand the benefit and
the importance of what thesheriff's department here
locally does for our community.
(16:12):
Maybe you could elaborate alittle bit on that for us.
SPEAKER_02 (16:15):
So I always tell people I law enforcement is the
the one individuals, they don'tcare who you are, what you did
last week, if you're in trouble,they're gonna come.
And priority one is alwayseveryone's trying to do the best
job they can.
And sometimes that's time,right?
So when we're dealing withscenarios where we're dealing
with somebody that's in a badcrisis, I have to we have to
(16:36):
keep ourselves safe, right?
And then we have to deal withthose individuals.
Amazing things happen everysingle day in law enforcement
that you know you there's smallcases.
I always tell my my staff, Isaid it's the little things that
you don't know you did.
I got a letter, I think it wasprobably probably two, three
years ago, and this little girlbasically said, Thanks for
(16:57):
saving my mom.
And it was a domestic case I didlike when I first started.
And basically this guy kidnappedthis gal and locked her in a
room, and then they escaped, andthen I got the we got the guy or
we made contact, the guy triedto come back, and I, you know,
we arrested him and so on and soforth.
And I don't really rememberexactly what I said, but
something triggered a responsewith that guy, like, I gotta get
(17:19):
out of this scenario.
And you know, they're doing verywell now, and so I think those
that happens every day aroundhere.
And I think those small littlethings is what you know changes
portions of the dracotics isanother one where I've had
individuals that I have thrownin federal prison come up to me
and say, Thanks for doing that.
That's how I got clean, that'show I was able to focus on my
(17:42):
family.
There's there is success storiesout there, and I think every day
all of the individuals are wantto do the best job they can for
you know protecting theircommunity and making people
better and that kind of stuff.
The big thing I need to reallyget out or I want to get out is
we're human.
And I I implore anybody, we arenow on body cameras, dash
(18:04):
canner, GP at it's likeeverything.
And I want you to think aboutyour day and find out if you
ever said a swear word or youever got angry or you did it.
If I recorded you 24 hours aday, seven days a week, would
you be perfect?
And I don't think anybody isperfect, not not a human.
I mean, I think that the realityis that you know the expectation
(18:26):
is that somehow we are, butthese are normal people.
These could be your father, son,kid, grandsons, whatever.
And we're fortunate here.
Law enforcement interacts withour community on a daily basis.
They coach baseball, they, youknow, are part of nonprofits,
they help out here.
They don't, I mean, you you seethem in their schools, and we're
pretty fortunate.
(18:46):
That's not everywhere where youknow their interaction occurs
every single day.
My kids go to a high school, andI I feel comfortable in that
because I still believe thiscommunity truly believes that
law enforcement is there to doeverything they possibly can to
keep them safe.
We're challenged.
We have a judiciary and courtsand everything else.
(19:08):
People are innocent and provenguilty by the you know the
Constitution, and that doesn'talways provide success,
depending on what the scenariois.
So it's it's difficult at times.
And TB is another one thatdrives me.
First of all, Yellowstone, weall know is not true, right?
I it's just be CSI is not CSI isanother one.
(19:30):
They have this idea that I gotsome gal in a lab in the back
that can test things in 30seconds, and we send that out to
a crime lab, you know, and itcould be three, four months.
And I mean, all these challengesthat, you know, and there's a
lot of paper, you know.
We always watch the the lawenforcement shows growing up,
and it was like, man, they theynever wrote a report.
I mean, not once did they everwrite a report.
(19:52):
And it and about 60, 70 percentof your time is often on
paperwork, depending on whatyour day was like.
So I would say I the big pointis remember we are human.
Perfection is probably not gonnaever happen, but the importance
is the human element is also wesee law enforcement oftentimes,
you know, taking those two,three extra seconds to try to
(20:16):
help an individual get out ofmaybe of circumstances or give
them a different road.
And sometimes they're success,and sometimes we repeat that
same incident again.
SPEAKER_01 (20:24):
Right.
And I think, I mean, I reallylove the remember that you're
human, but really all of us.
Let's just remember we're allhuman.
We're all gonna say things anddo things that we regret or that
we aren't, you know, proud of.
And but that's not an indicationof who we are necessarily or
what we stand for or what we'retrying to do.
We just do the course, normalcourse of daily living.
(20:46):
We we mess up sometimes, andthat's and that's okay.
And uh we just need to beconscious of that.
I I really like that.
So you know, Brian, you'vetalked about a lot of different
things here, but you know, oneof the things that I think it is
interesting or what would beinteresting to know is you know,
you you lead a sheriff'sdepartment for a county.
This is a you know, it's a it'sa big undertaking.
(21:07):
What motivates you day in andday out to to show up, to do
what you do, and to provide theservices that you and your
department provide?
SPEAKER_02 (21:16):
It's growing up here.
I mean, you know, I have family,friends, and it's always been a
great community.
Even for me growing up, I mean,it was an amazing place to be.
And and you're trying to keepthat constantly, you know, in
there.
The other one is just the thebasically the protection
portions where I thinkspecifically in my role, there's
(21:38):
opportunities always for us totry to either hold
accountability or you know, toreact to be able to keep
somebody safe.
Sometimes that's stopping theDUI at two o'clock in the
morning, and you know, you don'tknow if you prevented a crash,
but you know, maybe sometimesit's you know dealing with that
domestic and bringing theindividual to jail, and maybe
(21:58):
that individual, the survivor,has the opportunity to you know
change their lifestyle and getaway from that.
I think those, like I said, it'salways been the little things.
Like you, you, you treateveryone that like that, and
then basically at the end of theday, you're gonna have success
stories.
On the other side of it, I thinkwe try to be the best, we try to
train our individuals to thehighest level that we can.
(22:20):
We give them the tools so thatthey you know have the
opportunity to to do manythings.
One example of that, we'veinvested heavily in less than
lethal things for all of ourstaff because we want to give
them every opportunity to youknow resolve a scenario without
having to use deadly force.
I don't know if most peopleknow, but a lot law enforcement
(22:42):
statistically, they have to usedeadly force.
They usually are not, they don'tmake it in the clear for an
extended period of time.
SPEAKER_01 (22:51):
What is that stat?
Is it is it is it just like halfof them fall off, or what
happens?
I'd say majority.
SPEAKER_02 (22:57):
So majority, okay.
Yeah, five years is and thenthey they do it.
Because again, it's it's not aneasy task to do.
You're trained in it, you do it,but on the other side, you know,
and that's back to you know, youyou feel that's you know, a
person is going to use deadly orserious body injury against
somebody else, and you have tomake those reactionary times.
(23:18):
And as you're well aware, youknow we had a couple years
during that COVID time where wehad great men and women that
were doing a tough job that wereyou know getting shot at and had
to return fire.
And some of those individualswith us and some of them are
not.
And the reason is is I thinkwhile it's easy to look at on
TV, the toll on that persondefinitely takes takes its toll.
(23:40):
But they do it every day withyou know pride because they're
there to knowing that they haveto do those things to protect
themselves or their community.
SPEAKER_01 (23:48):
So absolutely, absolutely.
That's definitely that humanelement of having to impact
somebody's else's life that wayis like I can't even imagine the
the mental and emotional anguishthat would create within
anybody.
Okay, so you're you're you're acaliphable native.
You grew up here, you work here,you play here, you've got family
(24:11):
here.
What what do you do for fun?
What how do you how do yourecharge, take your mind off of
things?
Because obviously you're in ahigh stress job, and so you've
got to have some sort of outletsomewhere.
What is it?
My wife says I have too manyhobbies.
SPEAKER_02 (24:23):
That's been the problem.
So I think you ever have toomany hobbies though, really?
Let's be honest.
Uh I kind of do a variety.
I mean, we got these seasonsaround here, and you kind of
have to break up your world.
So grew up skiing downhill foryears, did some backcountry
stuff before the kids got, youknow, were born.
But I uh, you know, pretty muchanything on outdoor side is what
(24:44):
I enjoy.
So my dad and I just bought afishing boat, so we're pretty
excited about that.
I've been trying golf.
I don't think I'm gonna go PGAanytime soon, but I think it's
that variety.
And I really, I will say I thinkit's been good for me.
My kids are both in sports,right?
So getting that interaction,watching the kids.
I will say it's more stressfulfor the parents in the stands
(25:07):
and the kids that are playingout there because you know
you're you're you're nervous forthem, right?
You're trying to you know wantthem to be successful and have a
good game, but you're justpacing.
My son was a pitcher.
SPEAKER_01 (25:16):
What's what sports do you he's a pitcher, okay.
SPEAKER_02 (25:18):
I was just gonna ask what sports they play.
Yeah, he was for the with theLakers.
He's he's graduated now.
And then my my daughter playsvolleyball, and my son plays
football right now, and thenthey they kind of bounce around
when Lander's gonna you knowwrestle, and then Cheyenne's
doing the the basketballprobably in spring.
But so I think it's thatinteraction with the school and
(25:38):
the families, and that'simportant, and so you kind of
get that.
But overall, it's outdoors, justgetting out to this, you know,
whatever it might be, just evenit it's kind of time, right?
So you have to go back to I havea four-hour block here, my
phone's always seems to be on,but you know, I can you know
jump on the river and gofishing, or you know, go out to
(26:01):
the lake place for a couplehours, or you know, something
along those lines, justdepending on time.
I truly enjoy those four or fivedays when you can just get away
and you know do some amazingthings, whether that be a
fishing trip, a hunting trip, orwhatever.
I don't even I think I'vechanged enough that it's not so
much about you know the gettingthe animal anymore, it's about
(26:23):
you know just getting out andgetting away for a couple of
days.
So the experience.
Yeah, yeah.
What do you what do you like tohunt?
So, you know, it's bird huntingis definitely a passion of mine,
but uh I I think you know, anyof the elk and deer and all that
stuff is amazing too.
SPEAKER_01 (26:39):
So right.
And and fishing wise, do youfish here locally and when you
go away, where where do you liketo go?
SPEAKER_02 (26:45):
Uh any opportunity I have, I generally take.
Uh, but I'd say, you know,around here is fun just because
uh, you know, we have a prettygood variety of of different
options to do, you know, whetherthat be pike or salmon or
whatever.
White fish, you know, a friendof mine took me out this year,
it was an amazing, you know,good time.
So like I said, I it's those twoto three hours where you can
(27:07):
just get away and and you knowhave a good time.
SPEAKER_01 (27:09):
So that and that's that's what makes this place so
awesome.
Is that you can hunt, you canfish, you can ski, you can play
golf, you can be on the lake,you can do all these different
things and and all within, youknow, a very convenient distance
to home and to work.
So that's it makes it makes it agreat place to be.
So what uh when you look at ourcommunity, what what does a
(27:30):
better, stronger future for forthe flathead look like to you?
SPEAKER_02 (27:34):
I I think you know, this comes back to this.
You gotta always look at thevalues of totality.
And when I say that, you know,we added, we doubled our
population since the 80s.
And so you look at all of thesesystems that we have in place,
whether you know, we could bringup roads, which would be a whole
nother probably podcast.
But I I think you know, youwe've we've looked at this from
(27:56):
a perspective of okay, the thejudges, you know, they added
another district court judge,but our facility, you know, the
the detention facility isdefinitely you know that one
that's rising to the top rightnow.
We've been talking about it,like I tell people, you know, I
started here in 2003.
We were talking about 2003, itis now 2025, and we are finally
(28:18):
to an amazing opportunity toprovide present to the voters an
option to you know provide somesuccess.
Uh, it's capacity, right?
I mean, so you know, we have 120some beds, which were, you know,
as you went to facility, we'rewe're dealing with a lot of
different scenarios.
It's a safer portion for ourstaff, you know, and for the
(28:38):
individuals in there, providesprogram opportunities.
And then with that, we also haveto look at you know the staffing
numbers that you had brought up.
You know, we have to constantlybe evaluating, you know, how
many bodies do we need to beable to successfully, you know,
respond to calls to do thosetypes of things.
And then, you know, it's it's atough topic, but pay is a
(28:59):
different is a different one.
I mean, all three of those, forat least from my perspective,
have to be evaluated constantly.
And we do.
I think it's balancing propertytaxes with the service levels
that the community would want,right?
And so we all are feeling it.
I I think we can all say, youknow, I own a home, my parents
(29:19):
own a home, every, you know, andwe've all seen that increase.
It's just that what what isallowable.
I often tell people lawenforcement is driven by what
the community expectations are.
And so I think we have toconstantly evaluate like what
what what's our number going tobe and what's a fair composition
wage for individuals.
(29:40):
That just doesn't include justyou know the sheriff's office,
though.
I mean, that is I think everybusiness entity is doing that,
every every level has to do thatright now.
And and we've all seen it,right?
I we we paid less for our housesin you know 2003 to now.
And that value, you know, youwant people to be successful, be
able to own a home, be able toyou know live here and do that
(30:02):
kind of stuff.
I don't think we've ever beenrich here.
I I mean it's it's an amazingopportunity, but you know, when
I grew up, I many of myrelatives, everything sometimes
work multiple jobs, right?
They worked at the aluminumplant, they were loggers, they
were you know in agriculture,whatever it was to you know
survive here.
I think that's why we kind ofhave a cool community because
(30:24):
it's very blue-collar, and westarted off that way.
And and people are hard workershere, but they also contribute
so heavily into their community.
Like you talk to anybody, theyare a part of something, whether
it be a volunteer firedepartment or you know, rotary
or whatever it is, they're theydo something in order to give
back.
And I think that's it, that'skind of that basis of how our
(30:47):
community started, right?
We were blue-collar, reallyworked hard individuals.
We've extended that into wherewe are now, and now we're trying
to adapt all that.
But I think as a totality forour our community, mass growth,
we are still at having to adapt,and that includes a whole bunch
of things for public safety toyou know the the roads, which I
(31:09):
think we all are seeing thatcome.
Compaction.
And I think the other difficultythat we see is uh we're very
seasonal here.
So what three million peoplecome to Glacier National Park?
You're staffed to a level that,you know, basically is the
people that that live here, butwe get huge influxes of people
in the summertime.
And our our call volume showsthat, right?
In the summer, we are running agun, and now we're starting to
(31:32):
kind of see that reprieve alittle bit.
And then we get winter season,right?
So whitefish and blacktail noware are are bringing in larger
crowds than I've ever seenbefore.
So it's it's hard to staff tothat, if that makes sense,
because of that extra number.
And I always tell people, like,realize this county is the size
of the state of Connecticut.
(31:52):
So I mean, we have a masspopulation area, and everybody
wants their you know, five toten acres is somewhere, you
know, that's that's in thisvalley.
And we're kind of different inthat majority of areas if you go
to, and I'm sure you travel muchmore than I have, but majority
of that population sits in acity, and then on the outskirts,
it's pretty, you know, rural.
(32:14):
Here we're kind of opposite.
Majority live out in thecounties, and the cities are, I
mean, there's still, you know, alarge proportion of it, but it
there's less population in thecities than in the counties.
So it's it's kind of this weirdadaption that we're seeing.
SPEAKER_01 (32:29):
Right.
So it sounds like you meanbalance then.
I mean, you're talking aboutbalancing growth with with
services and those sorts ofthings.
And so the jail is anopportunity to help balance some
of the the influxes that we'veseen on other parts of our our
community here.
So that's that makes a lot ofsense.
So Brian, we're gonna we'regonna wrap up with our our
flathead five, and these are thefive questions that we ask all
(32:50):
of our guests, and they're justmeant to be rapid fire.
So what's your favorite hiddengem in the community?
SPEAKER_02 (32:57):
Well, you're not supposed to say that, but I what
you know, I would say I stillthink the Jewel Basin and the
North Fork are probably thehidden gems.
I I don't publicize that a lot,but I mean it's they're starting
to be discovered already, butjust the amazing c communities
up there, and also the amazing,you know, lakes and streams that
(33:18):
we you know are up in thatcountry.
So agree.
It's beautiful.
Both both places.
Grizz or Bobcats?
Went to Wyoming, so I growingup, it's funny.
I was a Grizz fan.
Now I'm more of a Bobcat fan.
SPEAKER_01 (33:30):
Both, okay.
SPEAKER_02 (33:30):
What's your favorite outdoor activity in the valley?
I still have to say probablyhunting is probably one of my
biggest sports right nowactivity.
SPEAKER_01 (33:41):
And what do you know today that you wish you knew
when you started out?
SPEAKER_02 (33:45):
Be the best father and family member you can be,
because after all the chaos isdone, that's what's left.
SPEAKER_01 (33:54):
And when your story is over, what do you want the
one or two sentence review onyour book to be?
SPEAKER_02 (33:59):
Great dad, good husband, and good community
member.
SPEAKER_01 (34:05):
I like it.
You know, that I love I loveyour focus on family.
I love you know that the whatyou you wish you knew when you
started out.
I think that's we all,especially as fathers and
husbands, we we kind of gothrough that.
So thank you for uh for being socandid and open about that.
And Sheriff Hano, it's been apleasure having you on today on
the Heart of the Flathead.
And I think, you know, I hope,you know, through this we can
(34:27):
help our community come toappreciate what you and your
department do uh more fullybecause it's a huge service to
our community, and we really,really value the sacrifices that
you and your your colleaguesmake and the efforts that you
make to protect us and to helpthings operate smoothly.
So thank you so much for allthat you do, and again, thank
you for being here on thepodcast today.
SPEAKER_00 (34:49):
Thanks for listening to this episode of Heart of the
Flathead.
We'd love to hear your thoughtsabout today's episode and the
podcast in general.
You can listen at heart of theflathead.com or wherever you
listen to podcasts, and you canreach David via the contact page
at heart of the flathead.com orby clicking on the send us
feedback link at the top of theepisode description in your
(35:10):
favorite podcast app.
Welcome to the Heart of the Flathead, where we sit
down with the change makers, theunstung heroes, and everyday
folks who give this place itsfault.
If you live here, love here, orjust want to know what makes
Callus Bow and the Valley tick,you're in the right place.
And now here's your host, DaveWigginton.
SPEAKER_01 (00:20):
Welcome everyone to Heart of the Flathead.
I'm excited to have uh SheriffBrian Haino on the podcast uh
for this episode.
Brian, welcome, thanks forjoining us, and welcome to the
Heart of the Flathead.
Yeah, great to be here andbeautiful morning.
So excited to have thisopportunity.
So great.
Yeah, there's a lot, a lot goingon in the world, I guess, of the
Sheriff's Department Sheriff'sDepartment, always, but
(00:43):
especially now.
But um I know you uh recentlydid a podcast with the chamber
talking about some of the thethe pluses of of the of the new
jail and why we need that.
And so today I kind of want totake a little different tact and
wanted to get to know you alittle bit more and allow the
community to kind of see you asyou know not as a sheriff per
se, but as as the the personthat you are.
(01:03):
And I've had an opportunity tomeet you this year and and
attend some presentations andtalk to you a little bit.
So it's I'm excited to be ableto do this for our community
because I think they would uhbenefit to know the the good
person that you are and thegreat things that you're trying
to do.
So why don't we uh dive intothat?
So Brian, give us a littlebackground where you're from,
what you've done in life, andkind of what you've learned and
(01:25):
how you've ended up where youare today.
SPEAKER_02 (01:28):
So I grew up in Calspell.
Actually, we parents had a placeon the east side of Calspo for
years.
Uh, went to Hedges, my Almorada,I guess I could.
And then and went to FlatheadHigh School in '96, I graduated.
That time I met this girl that,you know, she was running off to
go to college in in Wyoming.
And I thought that'd be a goodopportunity to, you know, go see
(01:50):
the world a little bit.
During that time, I was actuallyworked for the U.S.
Forest Service Fighting Fires.
Well, it's out of Hungry Horse,actually.
And it was an amazingopportunity.
Got to see some beautifulcountry and you know, became the
Jewel Basin Ranger, worked inthe Bob Marshall, the North
Fork.
So I kind of got paid to do anamazing thing up there.
So anyway, so like I said, Iwent to Wyoming and got a degree
(02:13):
in police science, and my wifewas in Del Hynjid school at the
time.
And uh, I thought theopportunity that you remember
the store Cabela's.
Yeah.
So yeah, Cabela's was like, youknow, I thought I could be a
product tester for Cabela's, andmy wife would work, and then I
would just do that for a living,and that didn't didn't happen.
SPEAKER_01 (02:34):
So I it sounds like you just wanted to play for play
professionally, right?
You wanted to be in the BobMarshall, you wanted to be doing
all kinds of different thingsand just having fun.
SPEAKER_02 (02:41):
I think every kid at the age of uh you know 19 to 21
has a dream of you know gettingpaid to do those amazing things.
But so a couple guys in theForce Service, kind of you know,
from LEOs to everything else,said, You know, have your
thought about law enforcement?
And I said, you know, I I guessI haven't.
My wife's dad was a U.S.
Border Patrol agent for you know30 plus years.
(03:04):
So, you know, we kind of talked.
And so I got out of college andmy wife still had a year left,
and I did this shotgun approach.
And it was one of these, like,well, it's funny.
She's like, you kind of need areal job.
So she, you know, I didn't haveinsurance and all that kind of
stuff.
So I I did this shotgunapproach, and I mean, I taught I
put my applications out from thefederal government to other
(03:27):
agencies to locally to Calspell.
I mean, I just did everything Ipossibly could.
And the Sheridan PoliceDepartment called me back and
where we were going to collegeat the time, and they said, Hey,
uh, you know, you want a job?
And you know, when you're younglike that, you're just getting
out of college.
I took the first opportunity I Ipossibly could and and went to
work for there.
And grade eight organization,and I had some amazing
(03:49):
leadership there that kind ofyou know started that guidance
portion.
And then I came home one day andso Brian, how many years how
many years were you insured in?
Uh about two and a half, liketwo-ish years, you know.
So total, I'd say, you know,three to four because we were,
you know, going to college anddoing all that kind of stuff.
But yeah, it was an amazingplace.
SPEAKER_01 (04:09):
So did you get married when you were in
Wyoming, or did you get marriedafter you moved back to Montana?
Uh, we did we got married in inCalispel.
SPEAKER_02 (04:17):
So the I was working at the at the police department,
I had we're pretty new, and Ihad to submit a request to go
get married in in Calspell.
I still remember the mayor'sletter.
It says, I believe a man shouldattend his own wedding much like
he should attend his ownfuneral.
So he uh he granted me the leaseto go get married.
Yeah.
So yeah, so we started outthere, came home one day.
(04:39):
My wife was pretty upset.
She wanted to move back home.
So I I applied for both CalspellPolice Department and the
sheriff's office, and I gotselected right away and and got
to move back home.
So it as we were very fortunate.
We have three kids.
So we have old are they?
I have an 18-year-old and two16-year-olds that are twins.
(05:01):
And you don't realize howfortunate you are to have your
family around when you you havethree children and diapers and
you're trying to you knowbalance that every single day
and work a job and do that kindof stuff.
So pretty fortunate to have allour family here.
You know, her parents, myparents, my grandparents, and
you know, even before that werein Montana.
(05:22):
So it was pretty cool to to comeback and and have this
opportunity to come back to thehouse.
SPEAKER_01 (05:27):
So were you were you did you have kids?
Did your wife give birth here inCalisbell or when you were still
living in Sheridan?
SPEAKER_02 (05:33):
Oh no, we we were we had that uh we were danks,
double income, no kids for awhile, and had a a good time up
while we were in Sheridan.
Uh, you know, traveled a bit,and then when we came back home,
we we started having kids.
So nice Jack and so yeah.
So it was pretty amazingopportunity, like I said,
started here in 2003 now.
SPEAKER_01 (05:54):
And so is this at the sheriff's department or at
the police department at thetime?
SPEAKER_02 (05:57):
No, been at the sheriff's office the whole time.
Okay.
Had some amazing opportunitieshere as well.
I I mean, I I look back on mycareer and and got to be an
undercover narcotics agent.
I got to uh run the search andrescue, the posse divisions, you
know, work patrol, just to youknow, like I said, the variety
of work at a at a as a sheriff'sdeputy is amazing.
(06:20):
I mean, you never really knowyou could be dealing with an
animal control complaint, andthe next day you're on a boat
looking for somebody, and a daylater you're you know dealing
with you know it's just thisvariety of work.
SPEAKER_01 (06:31):
It's amazing.
So yeah.
And and you like that then.
That's appealing to you, beingable to do something different
every day.
SPEAKER_02 (06:38):
Yeah, I think there's you know, it breaks up
the career.
You know, twenty years is a longtime.
And when you start looking atthe the shift work we do and uh
the stress levels that we dealwith, and you know, kind of
sometimes dealing withindividuals that they're
sometimes worse times, we wehave to break that up a little
bit and and look at thepositives of it.
(06:58):
Search and rescue is an amazingopportunity that's you have
multiple volunteers that are aresacrificing their time to you
know help us out.
Same thing with the posse andreserve programs.
I mean, so good people, you gotto interact with them, and it
kind of recharged me, I think,you know, because you go through
these ups and downs, like man,it's it's you know, it's been a
(07:20):
rough couple weeks, and then allof a sudden, you know, you get
this opportunity to work withthose amazing people and kind of
recharges you and says, Hey,there's there's good people out
there still.
SPEAKER_01 (07:29):
So Yeah, you know, it's one of one of the common uh
threads, I think, so far.
We're we're early on on thispodcast, but we hear a lot from
the folks in our community justthat we've interviewed about how
amazing the people are in ourcommunity.
And granted, yeah, we've we wedo deal with some challenges at
times, but on a net basis, itseems like we've got a really,
really great community full of alot of great people.
(07:50):
So and obviously you're you're apart of that that network.
So appreciate that.
You know, law enforcement is isobviously not an easy job.
I mean, it's obviously somethingyou weren't necessarily planning
on initially when you when youuh uh graduated high school, but
now that you've you've been init for so many years, it it's
gosh, what what what do you findto be the most challenging thing
(08:12):
in in your role as a sheriff'sdeputy and now as the the sh the
county sheriff?
SPEAKER_02 (08:16):
You know, I I think law enforcement is constantly
changing.
I mean, I think that's onething.
I mean, it's good and bad,right?
So, you know, when I started, wereally didn't have you know
cellular phones as much as we donow.
You know, we've had a lot oftechnology basically, you know,
that's been dumped in our lapsthat we're learning every day.
(08:37):
I think it's also the variety ofpeople and calls, you know, it
definitely has changed over theyears.
Who would have thought, youknow, that we would be sitting
here today with what 115 to130,000 people in our community?
And you know, when we all when Igrew up here, you know, I think
there was probably maybe40,000-ish people.
(09:01):
So there's a lot of uh changeswith that.
So population and amount ofpeople, the the the new data,
the new technology stuff thatyou're constantly learning.
And the sheriff, I think Ialways tell people, I says, if
you're gonna run for a politicaloffice, don't do it during a
pandemic.
I mean, it I got elected in 19,so I didn't really know about
(09:21):
it.
But that was probably one of themost challenging things for any
leader, I think.
We saw a lot of people that, youknow, were attacking law
enforcement.
We lost many individuals in thatfield.
We had, you know, kind of thiscouldn't go out and socialize
with people, all these differentdynamics, and not to mention all
(09:43):
the unknowns that we wereconstantly dealing with.
And then you got this hugepopulation growth right after
the fact.
And that's been probably one ofthe hardest challenges we've had
is it's just we always sawgrowth in this community.
I I think if that makes sense.
We always saw the you know, the3% kind of individuals that were
coming here, and then all of asudden it was just massive.
(10:06):
I mean, I I think we can alldrive around now and go, holy
cow, there's just you know, I Ican tell you when Home Depot and
Lowe's and all that, that wasthat was a gravel pit, you know,
and now it's all developed up,or you know, even taking the
south end of the valley, thatwas mainly farmland, and now
it's you know housingdevelopments.
And so it's just that thatchange almost from a smaller
(10:30):
community to a pretty urban one.
So I think those changes we'veadapted to because you have to.
And it's just that that we'reconstantly evaluating.
SPEAKER_01 (10:41):
The biggest advice I give people.
Go ahead.
I was just gonna say, how haveyou adapted to that?
I mean, it's uh it seems likeit's a big challenge when you've
got that big of a populationincrease.
Has your has your forceincreased or different tactics
or what what what have you guysdone?
SPEAKER_02 (10:55):
You know, I force no.
I think we got one one or twoextra positions at this point,
some of them grant funded.
But we've basically we did someonline reporting, right, to try
to take those smaller entitiesout there, uh, use our phones a
lot more than we used to.
We used to go to more residents,so some of those adaptions have
occurred.
(11:16):
But we've also, you know, I Ithink we've gotten better at
through technology uh outreachto communities, right?
So we can now contact people,such as you know, this format or
any kind of format to you knowkind of let people know what
things are going on.
I I I I sometimes look at dataand I I look back and I think,
(11:38):
oh my gosh, it just feels likeyou know, there's so much going
on.
I think we publicize it morethan we ever have before.
People are more aware now thanyou know, I think when we did
before.
So, and and I think that's likeyou know, there's a disturbance
at the neighbor's house, and forlaw enforcement goes up there.
You know, 20 years ago, weprobably would have never known
about it.
Now somebody's taking a pictureof it, putting it on, you know,
(12:01):
social media.
There's more of an awareness.
I think we advertise that more.
I don't think that's always badbecause I think people now
understand how busy you know lawenforcement services are, but
it's definitely more challengingin the fact that you kind of get
that feeling like, wow, there'sjust so much more going on.
I was just looking at crimestatistics the other day from 20
(12:22):
to now.
We've stayed pretty consistent,like in call volumes and what
we're dealing with.
It's just you know, we we aredealing with more mental health
issues and drug issues than weever done before.
And that does fall on the backsof law enforcement, which I
think we can do better at, andI'm hoping we do better at in
(12:42):
the future.
But yeah.
So we just face thosechallenges, we look at things,
we have very smart individualsthat you know work in the
organization that do amazingthings.
Uh we provide the the besttraining that we can afford all
the time to from that being ouryou know, keeping our guys safe
to you know driving to mentalhealth preparedness, how to deal
(13:03):
with those types of scenarios.
So you know, we invest heavilyin our people.
SPEAKER_01 (13:08):
So is that is that just is that a result, the
mental health and the the drugs,is that just really a result of
just the increased population,or has something else changed in
the community that's led toincreased incidences of those
types of situations?
SPEAKER_02 (13:22):
Well, basically, in you know, about 17, a lot of the
funding that was funding thosetypes of services was cut.
And so I don't think we reallysaw those results until you know
we're really seeing it now.
And then you add that populationon top of it, and I think it
really is exacerbatingeverything that we see.
So more people not really havingareas or placement for
(13:45):
individuals that are in crisiscare.
We, you know, drugs aredefinitely we I still don't
think we know the true effectsof fentanyl and some of these
other drugs that are coming out.
I mean, think I think ofmethamphetamine, we're starting
to learn that you know it's it'sfrying those dopamine receptors
and it's it's kind of turningthem into, you know, they don't
have an emotional response andit messes with them.
(14:06):
So yeah, I mean it's definitelytied.
It's just more people, you know,this this generally the same
amount of law enforcement, andyou know, there's nowhere to
really medically put them.
So they end up in our facilitiesand they're dealing with law
enforcement.
SPEAKER_01 (15:31):
You know, throughout these last five years, six years
that you've been sheriff,obviously there's been a huge
change, at least nationally, andthe perception of law
enforcement.
You kind of alluded to this inyour one of your comments
earlier on here.
What's uh what would you wantthe public in general to know,
like what you guys are doing andand why you're doing it and why
(15:52):
it's important?
And I think that I think this isI think this is key because most
people are grateful to have lawenforcement and for the efforts
that you made.
But there's there's a smallpopulation that are, I don't
want to say anti, but just maybedon't understand the benefit and
the importance of what thesheriff's department here
locally does for our community.
(16:12):
Maybe you could elaborate alittle bit on that for us.
SPEAKER_02 (16:15):
So I always tell people I law enforcement is the
the one individuals, they don'tcare who you are, what you did
last week, if you're in trouble,they're gonna come.
And priority one is alwayseveryone's trying to do the best
job they can.
And sometimes that's time,right?
So when we're dealing withscenarios where we're dealing
with somebody that's in a badcrisis, I have to we have to
(16:36):
keep ourselves safe, right?
And then we have to deal withthose individuals.
Amazing things happen everysingle day in law enforcement
that you know you there's smallcases.
I always tell my my staff, Isaid it's the little things that
you don't know you did.
I got a letter, I think it wasprobably probably two, three
years ago, and this little girlbasically said, Thanks for
(16:57):
saving my mom.
And it was a domestic case I didlike when I first started.
And basically this guy kidnappedthis gal and locked her in a
room, and then they escaped, andthen I got the we got the guy or
we made contact, the guy triedto come back, and I, you know,
we arrested him and so on and soforth.
And I don't really rememberexactly what I said, but
something triggered a responsewith that guy, like, I gotta get
(17:19):
out of this scenario.
And you know, they're doing verywell now, and so I think those
that happens every day aroundhere.
And I think those small littlethings is what you know changes
portions of the dracotics isanother one where I've had
individuals that I have thrownin federal prison come up to me
and say, Thanks for doing that.
That's how I got clean, that'show I was able to focus on my
(17:42):
family.
There's there is success storiesout there, and I think every day
all of the individuals are wantto do the best job they can for
you know protecting theircommunity and making people
better and that kind of stuff.
The big thing I need to reallyget out or I want to get out is
we're human.
And I I implore anybody, we arenow on body cameras, dash
(18:04):
canner, GP at it's likeeverything.
And I want you to think aboutyour day and find out if you
ever said a swear word or youever got angry or you did it.
If I recorded you 24 hours aday, seven days a week, would
you be perfect?
And I don't think anybody isperfect, not not a human.
I mean, I think that the realityis that you know the expectation
(18:26):
is that somehow we are, butthese are normal people.
These could be your father, son,kid, grandsons, whatever.
And we're fortunate here.
Law enforcement interacts withour community on a daily basis.
They coach baseball, they, youknow, are part of nonprofits,
they help out here.
They don't, I mean, you you seethem in their schools, and we're
pretty fortunate.
(18:46):
That's not everywhere where youknow their interaction occurs
every single day.
My kids go to a high school, andI I feel comfortable in that
because I still believe thiscommunity truly believes that
law enforcement is there to doeverything they possibly can to
keep them safe.
We're challenged.
We have a judiciary and courtsand everything else.
(19:08):
People are innocent and provenguilty by the you know the
Constitution, and that doesn'talways provide success,
depending on what the scenariois.
So it's it's difficult at times.
And TB is another one thatdrives me.
First of all, Yellowstone, weall know is not true, right?
I it's just be CSI is not CSI isanother one.
(19:30):
They have this idea that I gotsome gal in a lab in the back
that can test things in 30seconds, and we send that out to
a crime lab, you know, and itcould be three, four months.
And I mean, all these challengesthat, you know, and there's a
lot of paper, you know.
We always watch the the lawenforcement shows growing up,
and it was like, man, they theynever wrote a report.
I mean, not once did they everwrite a report.
(19:52):
And it and about 60, 70 percentof your time is often on
paperwork, depending on whatyour day was like.
So I would say I the big pointis remember we are human.
Perfection is probably not gonnaever happen, but the importance
is the human element is also wesee law enforcement oftentimes,
you know, taking those two,three extra seconds to try to
(20:16):
help an individual get out ofmaybe of circumstances or give
them a different road.
And sometimes they're success,and sometimes we repeat that
same incident again.
SPEAKER_01 (20:24):
Right.
And I think, I mean, I reallylove the remember that you're
human, but really all of us.
Let's just remember we're allhuman.
We're all gonna say things anddo things that we regret or that
we aren't, you know, proud of.
And but that's not an indicationof who we are necessarily or
what we stand for or what we'retrying to do.
We just do the course, normalcourse of daily living.
(20:46):
We we mess up sometimes, andthat's and that's okay.
And uh we just need to beconscious of that.
I I really like that.
So you know, Brian, you'vetalked about a lot of different
things here, but you know, oneof the things that I think it is
interesting or what would beinteresting to know is you know,
you you lead a sheriff'sdepartment for a county.
This is a you know, it's a it'sa big undertaking.
(21:07):
What motivates you day in andday out to to show up, to do
what you do, and to provide theservices that you and your
department provide?
SPEAKER_02 (21:16):
It's growing up here.
I mean, you know, I have family,friends, and it's always been a
great community.
Even for me growing up, I mean,it was an amazing place to be.
And and you're trying to keepthat constantly, you know, in
there.
The other one is just the thebasically the protection
portions where I thinkspecifically in my role, there's
(21:38):
opportunities always for us totry to either hold
accountability or you know, toreact to be able to keep
somebody safe.
Sometimes that's stopping theDUI at two o'clock in the
morning, and you know, you don'tknow if you prevented a crash,
but you know, maybe sometimesit's you know dealing with that
domestic and bringing theindividual to jail, and maybe
(21:58):
that individual, the survivor,has the opportunity to you know
change their lifestyle and getaway from that.
I think those, like I said, it'salways been the little things.
Like you, you, you treateveryone that like that, and
then basically at the end of theday, you're gonna have success
stories.
On the other side of it, I thinkwe try to be the best, we try to
train our individuals to thehighest level that we can.
(22:20):
We give them the tools so thatthey you know have the
opportunity to to do manythings.
One example of that, we'veinvested heavily in less than
lethal things for all of ourstaff because we want to give
them every opportunity to youknow resolve a scenario without
having to use deadly force.
I don't know if most peopleknow, but a lot law enforcement
(22:42):
statistically, they have to usedeadly force.
They usually are not, they don'tmake it in the clear for an
extended period of time.
SPEAKER_01 (22:51):
What is that stat?
Is it is it is it just like halfof them fall off, or what
happens?
I'd say majority.
SPEAKER_02 (22:57):
So majority, okay.
Yeah, five years is and thenthey they do it.
Because again, it's it's not aneasy task to do.
You're trained in it, you do it,but on the other side, you know,
and that's back to you know, youyou feel that's you know, a
person is going to use deadly orserious body injury against
somebody else, and you have tomake those reactionary times.
(23:18):
And as you're well aware, youknow we had a couple years
during that COVID time where wehad great men and women that
were doing a tough job that wereyou know getting shot at and had
to return fire.
And some of those individualswith us and some of them are
not.
And the reason is is I thinkwhile it's easy to look at on
TV, the toll on that persondefinitely takes takes its toll.
(23:40):
But they do it every day withyou know pride because they're
there to knowing that they haveto do those things to protect
themselves or their community.
SPEAKER_01 (23:48):
So absolutely, absolutely.
That's definitely that humanelement of having to impact
somebody's else's life that wayis like I can't even imagine the
the mental and emotional anguishthat would create within
anybody.
Okay, so you're you're you're acaliphable native.
You grew up here, you work here,you play here, you've got family
(24:11):
here.
What what do you do for fun?
What how do you how do yourecharge, take your mind off of
things?
Because obviously you're in ahigh stress job, and so you've
got to have some sort of outletsomewhere.
What is it?
My wife says I have too manyhobbies.
SPEAKER_02 (24:23):
That's been the problem.
So I think you ever have toomany hobbies though, really?
Let's be honest.
Uh I kind of do a variety.
I mean, we got these seasonsaround here, and you kind of
have to break up your world.
So grew up skiing downhill foryears, did some backcountry
stuff before the kids got, youknow, were born.
But I uh, you know, pretty muchanything on outdoor side is what
(24:44):
I enjoy.
So my dad and I just bought afishing boat, so we're pretty
excited about that.
I've been trying golf.
I don't think I'm gonna go PGAanytime soon, but I think it's
that variety.
And I really, I will say I thinkit's been good for me.
My kids are both in sports,right?
So getting that interaction,watching the kids.
I will say it's more stressfulfor the parents in the stands
(25:07):
and the kids that are playingout there because you know
you're you're you're nervous forthem, right?
You're trying to you know wantthem to be successful and have a
good game, but you're justpacing.
My son was a pitcher.
SPEAKER_01 (25:16):
What's what sports do you he's a pitcher, okay.
SPEAKER_02 (25:18):
I was just gonna ask what sports they play.
Yeah, he was for the with theLakers.
He's he's graduated now.
And then my my daughter playsvolleyball, and my son plays
football right now, and thenthey they kind of bounce around
when Lander's gonna you knowwrestle, and then Cheyenne's
doing the the basketballprobably in spring.
But so I think it's thatinteraction with the school and
(25:38):
the families, and that'simportant, and so you kind of
get that.
But overall, it's outdoors, justgetting out to this, you know,
whatever it might be, just evenit it's kind of time, right?
So you have to go back to I havea four-hour block here, my
phone's always seems to be on,but you know, I can you know
jump on the river and gofishing, or you know, go out to
(26:01):
the lake place for a couplehours, or you know, something
along those lines, justdepending on time.
I truly enjoy those four or fivedays when you can just get away
and you know do some amazingthings, whether that be a
fishing trip, a hunting trip, orwhatever.
I don't even I think I'vechanged enough that it's not so
much about you know the gettingthe animal anymore, it's about
(26:23):
you know just getting out andgetting away for a couple of
days.
So the experience.
Yeah, yeah.
What do you what do you like tohunt?
So, you know, it's bird huntingis definitely a passion of mine,
but uh I I think you know, anyof the elk and deer and all that
stuff is amazing too.
SPEAKER_01 (26:39):
So right.
And and fishing wise, do youfish here locally and when you
go away, where where do you liketo go?
SPEAKER_02 (26:45):
Uh any opportunity I have, I generally take.
Uh, but I'd say, you know,around here is fun just because
uh, you know, we have a prettygood variety of of different
options to do, you know, whetherthat be pike or salmon or
whatever.
White fish, you know, a friendof mine took me out this year,
it was an amazing, you know,good time.
So like I said, I it's those twoto three hours where you can
(27:07):
just get away and and you knowhave a good time.
SPEAKER_01 (27:09):
So that and that's that's what makes this place so
awesome.
Is that you can hunt, you canfish, you can ski, you can play
golf, you can be on the lake,you can do all these different
things and and all within, youknow, a very convenient distance
to home and to work.
So that's it makes it makes it agreat place to be.
So what uh when you look at ourcommunity, what what does a
(27:30):
better, stronger future for forthe flathead look like to you?
SPEAKER_02 (27:34):
I I think you know, this comes back to this.
You gotta always look at thevalues of totality.
And when I say that, you know,we added, we doubled our
population since the 80s.
And so you look at all of thesesystems that we have in place,
whether you know, we could bringup roads, which would be a whole
nother probably podcast.
But I I think you know, youwe've we've looked at this from
(27:56):
a perspective of okay, the thejudges, you know, they added
another district court judge,but our facility, you know, the
the detention facility isdefinitely you know that one
that's rising to the top rightnow.
We've been talking about it,like I tell people, you know, I
started here in 2003.
We were talking about 2003, itis now 2025, and we are finally
(28:18):
to an amazing opportunity toprovide present to the voters an
option to you know provide somesuccess.
Uh, it's capacity, right?
I mean, so you know, we have 120some beds, which were, you know,
as you went to facility, we'rewe're dealing with a lot of
different scenarios.
It's a safer portion for ourstaff, you know, and for the
(28:38):
individuals in there, providesprogram opportunities.
And then with that, we also haveto look at you know the staffing
numbers that you had brought up.
You know, we have to constantlybe evaluating, you know, how
many bodies do we need to beable to successfully, you know,
respond to calls to do thosetypes of things.
And then, you know, it's it's atough topic, but pay is a
(28:59):
different is a different one.
I mean, all three of those, forat least from my perspective,
have to be evaluated constantly.
And we do.
I think it's balancing propertytaxes with the service levels
that the community would want,right?
And so we all are feeling it.
I I think we can all say, youknow, I own a home, my parents
(29:19):
own a home, every, you know, andwe've all seen that increase.
It's just that what what isallowable.
I often tell people lawenforcement is driven by what
the community expectations are.
And so I think we have toconstantly evaluate like what
what what's our number going tobe and what's a fair composition
wage for individuals.
(29:40):
That just doesn't include justyou know the sheriff's office,
though.
I mean, that is I think everybusiness entity is doing that,
every every level has to do thatright now.
And and we've all seen it,right?
I we we paid less for our housesin you know 2003 to now.
And that value, you know, youwant people to be successful, be
able to own a home, be able toyou know live here and do that
(30:02):
kind of stuff.
I don't think we've ever beenrich here.
I I mean it's it's an amazingopportunity, but you know, when
I grew up, I many of myrelatives, everything sometimes
work multiple jobs, right?
They worked at the aluminumplant, they were loggers, they
were you know in agriculture,whatever it was to you know
survive here.
I think that's why we kind ofhave a cool community because
(30:24):
it's very blue-collar, and westarted off that way.
And and people are hard workershere, but they also contribute
so heavily into their community.
Like you talk to anybody, theyare a part of something, whether
it be a volunteer firedepartment or you know, rotary
or whatever it is, they're theydo something in order to give
back.
And I think that's it, that'skind of that basis of how our
(30:47):
community started, right?
We were blue-collar, reallyworked hard individuals.
We've extended that into wherewe are now, and now we're trying
to adapt all that.
But I think as a totality forour our community, mass growth,
we are still at having to adapt,and that includes a whole bunch
of things for public safety toyou know the the roads, which I
(31:09):
think we all are seeing thatcome.
Compaction.
And I think the other difficultythat we see is uh we're very
seasonal here.
So what three million peoplecome to Glacier National Park?
You're staffed to a level that,you know, basically is the
people that that live here, butwe get huge influxes of people
in the summertime.
And our our call volume showsthat, right?
In the summer, we are running agun, and now we're starting to
(31:32):
kind of see that reprieve alittle bit.
And then we get winter season,right?
So whitefish and blacktail noware are are bringing in larger
crowds than I've ever seenbefore.
So it's it's hard to staff tothat, if that makes sense,
because of that extra number.
And I always tell people, like,realize this county is the size
of the state of Connecticut.
(31:52):
So I mean, we have a masspopulation area, and everybody
wants their you know, five toten acres is somewhere, you
know, that's that's in thisvalley.
And we're kind of different inthat majority of areas if you go
to, and I'm sure you travel muchmore than I have, but majority
of that population sits in acity, and then on the outskirts,
it's pretty, you know, rural.
(32:14):
Here we're kind of opposite.
Majority live out in thecounties, and the cities are, I
mean, there's still, you know, alarge proportion of it, but it
there's less population in thecities than in the counties.
So it's it's kind of this weirdadaption that we're seeing.
SPEAKER_01 (32:29):
Right.
So it sounds like you meanbalance then.
I mean, you're talking aboutbalancing growth with with
services and those sorts ofthings.
And so the jail is anopportunity to help balance some
of the the influxes that we'veseen on other parts of our our
community here.
So that's that makes a lot ofsense.
So Brian, we're gonna we'regonna wrap up with our our
flathead five, and these are thefive questions that we ask all
(32:50):
of our guests, and they're justmeant to be rapid fire.
So what's your favorite hiddengem in the community?
SPEAKER_02 (32:57):
Well, you're not supposed to say that, but I what
you know, I would say I stillthink the Jewel Basin and the
North Fork are probably thehidden gems.
I I don't publicize that a lot,but I mean it's they're starting
to be discovered already, butjust the amazing c communities
up there, and also the amazing,you know, lakes and streams that
(33:18):
we you know are up in thatcountry.
So agree.
It's beautiful.
Both both places.
Grizz or Bobcats?
Went to Wyoming, so I growingup, it's funny.
I was a Grizz fan.
Now I'm more of a Bobcat fan.
SPEAKER_01 (33:30):
Both, okay.
SPEAKER_02 (33:30):
What's your favorite outdoor activity in the valley?
I still have to say probablyhunting is probably one of my
biggest sports right nowactivity.
SPEAKER_01 (33:41):
And what do you know today that you wish you knew
when you started out?
SPEAKER_02 (33:45):
Be the best father and family member you can be,
because after all the chaos isdone, that's what's left.
SPEAKER_01 (33:54):
And when your story is over, what do you want the
one or two sentence review onyour book to be?
SPEAKER_02 (33:59):
Great dad, good husband, and good community
member.
SPEAKER_01 (34:05):
I like it.
You know, that I love I loveyour focus on family.
I love you know that the whatyou you wish you knew when you
started out.
I think that's we all,especially as fathers and
husbands, we we kind of gothrough that.
So thank you for uh for being socandid and open about that.
And Sheriff Hano, it's been apleasure having you on today on
the Heart of the Flathead.
And I think, you know, I hope,you know, through this we can
(34:27):
help our community come toappreciate what you and your
department do uh more fullybecause it's a huge service to
our community, and we really,really value the sacrifices that
you and your your colleaguesmake and the efforts that you
make to protect us and to helpthings operate smoothly.
So thank you so much for allthat you do, and again, thank
you for being here on thepodcast today.
SPEAKER_00 (34:49):
Thanks for listening to this episode of Heart of the
Flathead.
We'd love to hear your thoughtsabout today's episode and the
podcast in general.
You can listen at heart of theflathead.com or wherever you
listen to podcasts, and you canreach David via the contact page
at heart of the flathead.com orby clicking on the send us
feedback link at the top of theepisode description in your
(35:10):
favorite podcast app.
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