Friday, OCTOBER 10, 2025 |
Photo – CCSO Badge on top of county map – Courtesy Carbon County Sheriff’s Office
Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken updated the Board of Commissioners about an injured dispatcher, avalanche forecasting, and law enforcement agreements.
During Tuesday’s Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting, Sheriff Alex Bakken briefed the Board on the status of his department.
Sheriff Bakken began by mentioning Lucero Pena, a Sheriff’s Department dispatcher who, on September 19th, was involved in a motor vehicle collision west of Rawlins, on Highway 789. Pena was airlifted to Banner Wyoming Medical Center for treatment.
After two weeks of hospitalization in Casper, Pena was transferred to Memorial Hospital of Carbon County on October 3rd, Sheriff Bakken said.
To help the Pena family pay for medical expenses, Sheriff Bakken created a GoFundMe page. As of yesterday morning, 55 people donated $5,525 to the campaign. A link to Pena’s GoFundMe can be found on Alex Bakken-Carbon County Sheriff’s Facebook page.
Donations can also be made in person at the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office, located in the Carbon County Courthouse at 415 West Pine Street in Rawlins.
During his presentation, Sheriff Bakken announced that the federal government has stopped training new Forest Service law enforcement officers at its four national Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, known as FLETC (pronounced “Fletsy”). The Sheriff said his department will patrol Forest Service land in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest while the federal government shifts its focus to training additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Sheriff Bakken said he doesn’t know when new Forest Service rangers will arrive in Carbon and Laramie Counties. In the meantime, the Sheriff said he plans to use the gap in federal coverage as an opportunity to pursue additional law enforcement reimbursement.
Continuing on the topic of law enforcement agreements, Sheriff Bakken said he is in talks with the Town of Baggs to have deputies patrol the southwestern Carbon County town. Amid declining tax revenue, the Sheriff said it makes financial sense for smaller municipalities to contract with his department rather than maintain their own law enforcement agencies.
The Carbon County Sheriff’s Office has a similar memorandum of understanding with the Town of Riverside.
And finally, Sheriff Bakken discussed the Carbon County Avalanche Operations Team. Following the avalanche death of Saratoga Town Council member Jacob Fluty in February of 2024, the Sheriff’s Office established an avalanche forecasting division. The unit provides real-time snowpack reports for the Sierra Madre Mountains and Snowy Range.
Sheriff Bakken announced that the Carbon County Avalanche Operations Team is now a federally recognized non-profit agency and is currently sponsored by Ski-Doo snowmobiles.
Avalanche Operation Team Members Trevor Vorn, Dusty Buffington, and Sheriff Bakken will be serving as the nonprofit’s first Board of Directors and are planning to organize several community avalanche workshops around Carbon County before the onset of winter.
