From Sgt. Steve Wilhelm:

Sheriff Boydston,

I would like to commend all of the essential Field Operations personnel that braved the extremely cold temperatures and the massive amounts of snow during the recent snow storms. The names are too many to mention here but they include not only Road Patrol Deputies from all shifts but the dispatchers that were able to make it in to the office as well.

The Dispatchers took numerous calls regarding stranded motorists and vehicle accidents. The Patrol Deputies worked at least 12 hr shifts, many times it was more than that, responding to these calls for service in the sometimes dangerously cold temperatures. Not only did the essential Field Operations personnel need to come in to work but they first needed to clear their patrol vehicles of the snow and ice which required them to come to work even earlier than usual. I know that most Deputies spent a lot of time before their shifts digging their patrol cars out of the snow, so they could make it to work on time.

To my knowledge we didn’t have one essential Field Operations Deputy call in and say that it was just to cold or their was just to much snow to make it in. While the non-essential personnel were given some time off during these storms, the essential personnel were here doing their respective jobs. And they all did them extremely well, which is something that I think both they and this Department should be very proud of.