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Sheriff reflects on 40 years of service to Elmore County
Over the past four decades, Rick Layher dedicated his life keeping communities across Elmore County safe. It meant having to deal directly with drug dealers, car thieves, bank robbers and murderers. This was in addition to the routine traffic stops and frequent fights and domestic squabbles.
As the head of the county's law enforcement team, Sheriff Rick Layher admitted that his calling in life happened by chance. With only a few days remaining before he retires from public office, he paused to reflect on the one moment in his young life that led him down the path to serve and protect this county.
Sitting back in his chair, he locked his fingers together and recalled that fateful afternoon when he was 14 years old. A sheriff came to his school and spoke to the students during an assembly in the gymnasium.
The discussion focused on the mission of law enforcement as well as the dangers of drugs and narcotics. It was also the catalyst that helped Layher chart out the path he would take after high school.
"I just sort of keyed up on that," he said.
Riding down the street on his bicycle, he set in motion the goals that would eventually led him to a career in law enforcement.
"This was what my mind was thinking on what I was going to do with my life," he said. "I was going to buy a GTO (sports car) when I get 16, I'm going into the military when I was 17 and when I get out of the military I want to become a cop and help people," he said.
After he purchased that sports car, he then set his sights on joining the military. Originally, he was looking at going into the Marine Corps before one of his friends convinced him to enlist in the Air Force. His service began at a time when the United States was in the midst of the Vietnam War.
Following his initial military training, Layher's first assignment brought him to southern Idaho and Mountain Home Air Force Base. Once he adjusted to his new duties, there was one thing that had him concerned -- the number of airmen at the base were abusing drugs.
"I really didn't like what drugs did to people, and at the time there were a lot of drugs on the base," he said.
This led him to meet with city police detectives, who at first were hesitant about allowing Layher to get involved in local law enforcement. But one of the detectives he met with felt he could help in the department's counter-drug mission.
They trained him to work undercover to identify airmen at the base who were involved in using and selling narcotics. He worked alongside city police as well as detectives with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
At the end of the investigation, Layher ended up blowing his cover, but his efforts led to the arrest of a number of airmen. Following that undercover assignment, he remained a part of the local law enforcement team for the next two years.
Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, he rode with city officers and county deputies on actual patrols in Mountain Home and across Elmore County. This allowed him to continue to learn first-hand the role of law enforcement, which helped groom him for the role he would eventually play in serving the residents of this area.
Following his four-year term in the Air Force in 1976, Layher stepped away from military life and moved to Nebraska with his wife. Before he separated from the service, he had already submitted applications to various law enforcement agencies.
In short time, however, he received a reply from the Elmore County Sheriff's Office, who offered him a job with their department. The news reached him on a Wednesday, and he needed to report in by that Saturday.
"So my wife and I packed up and I came to work here," he said.
He still remembers the day -- Dec. 2, 1976.
"I walked into the door, and they threw a set of keys through the window at me. They said, 'they fit the green car out in front. Go drive around and do what dispatch tells you to do,' " Layher said.
At the time, the sheriff's office only had five deputies to cover the entire county. The staff of the entire department, from the jail to the drivers' license office, was just 14 people.
In comparison, the department today stands at 81 people, including 20 deputies and detectives.
For the next five months, Layher learned from the department's senior officers, which included Sheriff Earl Winters and chief deputy Robert "Bob" Mendiola. He also credited others on the law enforcement team like Buster Taylor, Rich Wills and Larry Olsen.
"I was hired at a time when they didn't hire young people at the sheriff's office," he said. "You had to be over a certain age... because they felt they were more mature.
"They took a chance with me," said Layher, who was just 22 years old when he was hired. At the time, he was the youngest deputy to ever serve this county.
One piece of advice he remembered was taking time to learn from as many officers as he could. He was encouraged to adopt the good things he saw in each person and to avoid the negative traits.
"Everybody's got good points. Everybody has bad points. But you pick up the traits you think will work for you and discard the bad points," he said.
It allowed him to eventually become the office that he wanted to be -- someone willing to serve others with a level of compassion for the victims of various crimes as well as those responsible for committing those offenses.
"You can't just go out and bust bad guys," Layher said. "It's not what this job is about."
Looking back over his career, he recalled a number of incidents that really stood out and put all of his law enforcement skills to the test. He had to deal with a massive fist fight involving 30 migrant workers. He got called in to keep a close eye on a group of bikers that came through town threatening to cause trouble.
But one of the most memorable moments in his career happened in 1981 when he helped take down a large-scale drug trafficking ring in the local area. Following an investigation spanning eight months, his department arrested 35 drug dealers with investigators at the local Air Force base apprehending hundreds of additional drug users.
The one thing that people often forget is that deputies must deal personally with raw, human emotion, which can take its toll. He's lost count of the number of times where he had to knock on someone's door and tell them that their mother, father or child had died in a car crash or had taken their own life.
"Probably the hardest thing was watching the pain of the survivors, whether it was a spouse or their children," Layher said.
It was equally tough trying to find the words to tell these individuals to help them overcome that initial shock and grief. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of resources available to help deputies deal with these types of situations.
"Back then, you just handled it," he said. "That's what you were hired to do. "You just did your best to help comfort them."
But at the end of the day, he always took comfort knowing that he made a difference in the lives of those he served over the past 40 years. He's even been thanked by those he's arrested over the years because that experience allowed them to turn their lives around.
Reflecting on his career, Layher hopes that people remember him as someone who was dedicated to serving this county -- an individual who cared about those he served. He then extended his personal thanks and gratitude to the men and women of his department for everything they've done over the years in service to this county.
"The people that I've worked with and the people that I have now are the reason the sheriff's department is running the way it is," he said.
Retirement ceremony scheduled
A retirement ceremony honoring Elmore County Sheriff Rick Layher runs from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday Dec. 27 at the marine building across from the sheriff's department office on East 8th North Street.