FRIDAY, August 14, 2026|
Photo – Deputy Seargeant Zach Burns and daughter – Courtesy CCSO
On Thursday morning, Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken announced that Sergeant Zach Burns was named Peace Officer of the Year by the Wyoming Peace Officers Association.
Sheriff Bakken wrote that Sergeant Burns received his award during the previous evening’s Wyoming Peace Officers Association banquet in Casper.
In early June, Sergeant Burns was critically injured by a gunman in Baggs. He spent nearly a month and a half in a Colorado hospital before returning to Rawlins to a hero’s welcome late last month.
In addition to Sergeant Burns’s award, Carbon County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Supervisor Karigan Gates was nominated for Dispatcher of the Year. Sheriff Bakken wrote that, to the best of his knowledge, the Wyoming Peace Officers Association had not honored anyone from the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office until now.
Sheriff Bakken congratulated Sergeant Burns and Dispatch Supervisor Gates for the recognition and thanked them for being part of his department.
