Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office opens new backcountry facility

The Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office opened its doors for the public to visit its new backcountry facility in Swan Valley. The sheriff says its a pain to move equipment up each season. This new building will allow it to all be in one place, year round.

“Having the equipment right here instead of trying to transfer it back and forth from down in Idaho Falls up to here,” Bonneville County Sheriff Paul Wilde said. “We have the equipment here. We can get on. We can move out to the incident and we can work very efficiently that way.”

The field office will also help deputies working long hours in the area. It has several bedrooms, a kitchen and a community gathering room.

“This gives them a place where they can come sit down, lay their paper work out, get things done,” Sheriff Wilde said. “They can have that as an office. It is set up that if they do, they are up here, it’s late, they don’t wanna drive all the way back, they can stay up here get some rest.”

Having the extra space will allow the sheriff’s office to help the surrounding communities more efficiently.

“The Swan Valley and Irwin communities, Palisades, all these areas that we work directly with, we appreciate their support and their help,” Sheriff Wilde said. “This is something that the commissioners worked with us on, it is paid for, it is functional, the guys will be operating and we’re here for the community.”

The sheriff’s office previously shared a building with the Idaho Falls EMS, but needed more room for all of its equipment.