Deputy Laytreda Schultz to retire

Friday, December 27, 2013
Schultz spent virtually her entire law enforcement career with Elmore County.

Elmore County Deputy Sheriff Laytreda Schultz is retiring after 34 years in law enforcement.

Her last official day was Dec. 23. An open house retirement party for her will be held Jan. 10, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Marine building between the new jail and the police station -- a fitting location because she had been one of the driving forces in getting it built.

She was an Air Force brat, which is how she wound up in Mountain Home.

In 1979, at the age of 19, she began her career in law enforcement by going to work for Elmore County as a dispatcher, eventually rising to be come dispatch supervisor.

It's a difficult, important job. "Your priority is the safety of the deputies (and other officers under dispatch's control) and the public.

"As a deputy," she said, "we couldn't do half of our jobs if it wasn't for them (the dispatchers)."

And even though there are times when things can get hectic for a dispatcher, such as during snowfalls when accidents are being reported ever other minute, Schultz said she never felt overwhelmed by that job.

"Way back when I started, my dispatch supervisor had something taped to the mike I never forgot. 'When all else fails, listen.' Stop trying to write everything down -- in those days we did the dispatch logs by typewriter -- but just stop and listen to what the guys are saying and then do your job" getting officers to the right place with the information they need when they get there.

After 14 years in dispatch she went to work as a civilian for the sheriff's office handling warrants, accounts and bad checks, among other civil matters.

It was during that time that she wrote her first grant for the sheriff's office -- seeking some federal funds to begin a "community oriented" policing program that would create an extra deputy sheriff's position.

"We got the grant, and well, I kind of wanted to get out of the office, so I applied for the job."

Sheriff Rick Layher gave her the chance and in 1996 Schultz became a uniformed deputy sheriff, a position she's held for more than a decade.

She went on to write two more grants that resulted in the creation of two more deputy positions for the department, and also wrote grants that helped create and expand the sheriff's marine patrol and helped buy ATVs, snowmobiles and boats for the department. "If I can find some funding, I will seek it out and get it."

Schultz rapidly advanced to become supervisor of the ECSO's recreation program, providing oversight for the resident deputies in the Pine and Featherville areas, the snowmobile and ATV programs and the boating program.

She's worked as an instructor for the state teaching officers from all over Idaho about marine law enforcement, tactical training, river navigation and personal watercraft safety.

She said that she felt that her biggest accomplishment during the last ten years has been building up the county's recreational enforcement, which stretches from the mountains of northern Elmore County to the Snake River on the south, including two major recreational reservoirs.

She noted that significant portions of the recreation enforcement work, including deputy salaries for those on the marine patrols for example, actually is paid by user fees, such as boat registrations, rather than out of general property tax funds. "It pays for itself, but we have to be careful how we spend the money," she said.

The marine patrols are perhaps the most visible of the recreation enforcement programs. Because they've worked hard to provide instruction and enforcement of the rules on drinking and boating, "we don't really have too much of a problem there," she said. The big issues, "are safety equipment and negligent operations. People need to realize things can go wrong fast on the water" and when the deputies are enforcing the laws, they're just trying to protect people.

In 2011 she received a meritorious award for rescuing two individuals who were drowning after their boat capsized.

She's also served as the liason between the sheriff's office and the county search and rescue unit, proudly noting that, one way or the other, "we've never left anyone up there" that they were search for.

She also led the rescue teams at Three Island Crossing. "That was pretty dangerous," she said of the former event that recreated the pioneer crossing of the river at Glenns Ferry. "We saved some horses and we lost some horses."

Because much of the county's recreational use is focused in the mountains, Schultz was heavily involved in coordinating ECSO efforts there during the Trinity Ridge fires in 2012 and the Elk Ridge Complex fires this year.

"During the Trinity Fire, I was talking to the IC (the forest service incident commander) and he told me that every fire has a life of its own, and boy, you could see that in these last two.

"Trinity, in comparison, just crawled along. But Elk Complex, that thing burned fast."

And that meant she and the other deputies there were often called upon to rush in near "that wall of flame" and evacuate people who had waited too long to leave their homes.

And weeks working in the heavy smoke environment, "it gets hard to breath and your throat really gets scratchy and sore."

But for all the work she's done in the field, she's proudest of "some of the 'touchy feely' things" that came with the job, such as being one of the officers involved from the beginning with the Shop With A Cop program and her creation of the Breakfast with Santa program in Glenns Ferry.

"Everything I did, I did for the public," she said. "My position allowed me to do a lot of things with good, happy people."

She readily admits she hasn't decided what to do in retirement. "I guess I'm looking for some new adventure. I'm going to let it find me."

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    Deputy Schultz will be a hard one to replace. She constantly gave of herself for our community. Good luck in your next chapter of life.

    -- Posted by B Mullen on Fri, Dec 27, 2013, at 7:49 AM
  • Congratulations on your retirement, and thank you for your service Deputy Schultz.

    -- Posted by BruceGibson on Fri, Dec 27, 2013, at 11:15 AM
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