Casual Friday: New Nez Perce County sheriff looks to mend fences – Lewiston Morning Tribune

As the phrase goes, theres a new sheriff in town.

While new to the post, Bryce Scrimsher is no stranger to the citizens of Nez Perce County and the regions law enforcement community. His 20 years as a peace officer includes stints with the Lewiston Police Department, Idaho State Police and the Nez Perce County Sheriffs Office, where he served as undersheriff before being fired by then-Sheriff Joe Rodriguez, who Scrimsher beat out for the countys top cop job in the November general election.

Craig Clohessy: What are your top priorities in the months ahead?

Bryce Scrimsher: Some of the things were going to be working on is bringing back our relationships with the prosecutors office, with our commissioners and then working with our local agencies and surrounding agencies and rebuilding those relationships on interagency cooperation. Another thing will be getting our deputies out and getting involved in our small communities within the county.

CC: Are you talking about community policing?

BS: Yeah, community policing. I think its a great thing. It was really popular in the early 2000s when I started and I think it still holds true today.

We obviously work for the taxpayers, but if we get to know the people within those communities and they get to know our deputies, myself, theyll feel more apt to call when they have problems. Or if we have a problem within their community, well have somebody we can go to and ask for information. ... I just think its a win-win situation for both the local community and ourselves.

CC: Your predecessor had a well-documented strained relationship with a number of his deputies and staff. What are you doing differently to ensure a positive work environment?

BS: I want people to enjoy coming to work every day. In my 20 years of law enforcement, I have had experiences with that, both good and bad. If people are nervous the day before to come to work and their stomach is getting worked up, thats not what I want. Its not good for home life and its not good for work either. I want people to come to work, enjoy coming to work. ... I think it goes hand in hand if work is going as well as it can, then, when they go home, home is going to go better. If home is going good, work is going to go better. ... Its not that hard to do, its just something youve got to do.

CC: You share a geographic region with a number of law enforcement agencies including the Lewiston Police Department, Nez Perce Tribal Police and Idaho State Police. Were also a border community with Washington, so youve got agencies from Clarkston police, Asotin County Sheriff, Asotin police and Washington State Patrol. Can you share a little more about what your approach will be to working with all these entities?

BS: Ive had a real great experience working with all of them. In my tenures of investigations with the Idaho State Police, we worked with all the five counties within (north central) Idaho, but we also worked with the drug task force, which works with Asotin and Clarkston Police Department. So Ive had a great experience doing that and Im going to continue that working relationship with them.

CC: Is the sheriffs office currently a member of the Quad Cities Drug Task Force?

BS: We are not at this time. Our canine handler does help, but we dont have a dedicated person to the task force.

CC: Is that something youre thinking about changing?

BS: I think what we need to do first before we assign anybody to a task force is we need our own personal investigator. Were the only agency around that does not have a full-time investigator. And we really need that spot, just for our general crimes and obviously our own drug problems that we have.

Right now every deputy is trying to do that plus be out and its not working as well as it should be.

CC: Some sheriffs across the country view themselves as constitutional sheriffs, meaning basically they decide which laws will be enforced. Whats your approach to law enforcement?

BS: I would follow the Constitution ... and whats already written, the laws in the state of Idaho that are already written.

We treat everybody fairly and equally. It doesnt matter their party, it doesnt matter where theyre from. If a law is being broke, then the law is being broke. But I also dont think we need to overstep our boundaries and go beyond what the laws and the Constitution say and create our own laws or rules.

CC: Lewiston recently extended its mask mandate. If the Nez Perce County commissioners were to put a mask mandate in place that included an enforcement component, would you enforce the mandate?

BS: Id be very surprised if our current commissioners did that, but no, I have no intention of enforcing any mask policies. Ive said it before, I believe every individual has a right, if they want to wear a mask or dont want to wear a mask. I believe businesses have the right to make their policies and rules to require masks or not require masks. And then the individual can decide upon the businesses rules or policies if they want to patronize there or not.

Clohessy is managing editor of the Lewiston Tribune. He may be contacted at cclohessy@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2251.

City of residence: Culdesac.

Title/occupation: Nez Perce County sheriff.

Family: Married with two grown children.

Education: Graduate Lewis-Clark State College in mid-management.

Work history: Twenty years in law enforcement: Nez Perce County Sheriffs Office, Idaho State Police and Lewiston Police Department.

Hobbies/interests: Farming, hunting, fishing, rodeos.

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Casual Friday: New Nez Perce County sheriff looks to mend fences - Lewiston Morning Tribune