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We are about a year into the COVID pandemic and the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office has made some changes during that time to accommodate the restrictions and guidelines that have been implemented by that state. Carbon County Sheriff Jeff Wood took time to talk about how they have been operating since the pandemic began.

“We first got wind of COVID in mid-February of last year that is was going to be an issue. I was out in Reno, well I was on my way to Reno to go to the Western State Sheriff’s Conference and Doc Williams our jail doc called and said, hey, are you following this pandemic because this is really going to affect the way we operate our jail,” said Sheriff Wood. He felt that this was great info to receive on his way to the conference because he would have the opportunity to gather ideas and strategies from other agencies that were facing the same pandemic challenges.

There may be some residents in the area that feel as though the jail is not “open” because of the pandemic but that is not true. “Anyone that is a risk to public safety, if they’ve been involved in the violent crime or a drug-related crime or something serious like that we’re open for business and we are housing them. We have a strategy as to how we can still faithfully contain them in jail and take care of our staff and the other inmates as well,” stated Sheriff Wood. Some of the changes that the jail has implemented have turned out to be very beneficial for the inmates and deputies during this time.

“You can still come to the Sheriff’s Office the front doors to the lobby are open but our waiting room that use to be open to the public is no longer open to the public, we keep that closed. We’ve actually found a benefit with that. We do have an intercom system out front so you can push that button and get directed to where you need to go so it’s just one more barrier of safety for our staff,” explained Sheriff Wood. They have found some value in having the lobby closed during this time as deputies have been able to use the area to interview individuals when need be.

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