Chouteau County Sheriff Vern Burdick, a man of unwavering dedication, will be retiring in January 2025. His commitment to the community is evident in the way he always looks me right in my eyes and says "ma'am" when answering my questions. This respect he shows is a testament to his 30 years of service, 19 years as Sheriff and 11 years as a deputy, which he will complete on January 3, 2025.
"I grew up in Nebraska but landed here with my family in 1993." Chouteau County was where he started his law enforcement career. "It has very much been an honor. And I'd have to attribute that to the good folks in Chouteau County. It's a nice county. It has a varied range of people that live in the county, and it was small enough for me almost to know everyone here." He could have retired after 20 years, but 30 years is the norm in this profession when people like to retire. Vern said, "I said if I make it 30 years, I'll be happy!"
"Because we live in a rural county, I would say I haven't seen a lot of change in law enforcement. We still have enough deputies to serve all the people and look at every call that comes into our office. As I said, being part of a rural county like this affords you the opportunity to really go out and look at everything that people come to talk to us about, what they're concerned about, and also to go out and help people. You are in the business of helping people. That's why I got into law enforcement. I not only just helping good people, but I've arrested people who have turned their lives around. but also taking care of the victims of crime too, to advocate for their rights; although it gets out of our hands when it gets into the court system, there's not a lot we can do but make sure that the victims are fully informed and help them in any area that we can legally." After he said that, he did mention, "The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has made many decisions concerning people's civil rights, changing how we deal with some issues."
We talked briefly about the Fort Benton Police Department folding and becoming a part of the Chouteau County Sheriff's Office. There is no longer a police force in Fort Benton, just the Sheriff's Office. "We find it very, very hard to staff in law enforcement anymore. I don't think the young people are interested in a career anymore. I don't think they think it's a gratifying area, which is a shame. The other reason it's hard to find personnel, more often than not, is that when we've offered a job, people can't find housing; Chouteau County's housing market is way above what we get paid to live on. That's the truth."
"Sometimes it gets hectic. Sometimes it's not busy. Another thing that's nice about a rural law enforcement agency is that you have the time to be with the people and not have to run from call to call to call to call and then spend hours of overtime making sure all your reports are done before you go home at night."
"We have six deputies working on the road. They're all qualified. We still have two positions open. So we're going to do interviews next week. We have quite a number of applicants. This time, we're interviewing five. We hope to pick up two more deputies. One of those deputies we're interviewing is already post-certified and working as a law enforcement officer, so that makes it a lot easier on us and the training and getting them used to this area. We have six in dispatch. We have five in detention. Over the years, we have found that staffing six per day is perfect."
He told me when he retires, "I make my recommendations to the commissioners. When Larry Ophus retired a couple of years back, I appointed Justin Smith as his replacement. He has been with us 15-16 years now. I have already recommended him, but I will formally do it closer to my retirement, too, to appoint him for the remaining two years of my term."
