The sheriff’s office can’t be on every street corner. No law enforcement agency can. But that doesn’t mean our neighborhoods have to fend for themselves — it means we have to build something smarter than a patrol car driving by once a night.
The Old Model Isn’t Enough Anymore
Most of us have heard of Neighborhood Watch. Signs on the corner, a phone tree, maybe a meeting at the community center once a year. It made sense in the 1980s. It doesn’t cut it anymore.
The way crime works today is different. The tools available to prevent it are different. And the way our communities are built — with HOAs, with new developments going up across the valley, with more people moving in every year — means the opportunity to do something better is right in front of us.
What the Gap Looks Like Right Now
When something happens in a Wasatch County neighborhood today — a break-in, a suspicious vehicle, a pattern of incidents — the response is reactive. Something happens, someone calls, deputies respond.
That works. But it means the crime already occurred. Someone’s home was already broken into. Someone already felt unsafe in their own neighborhood. And by the time the call comes in, the window to prevent it has already closed.
We can do better than that.
What Sheriff Rigby Is Building
The plan is to create real partnerships between the sheriff’s office and neighborhoods across Wasatch County — HOAs, community groups, and residents in Heber City, Midway, and every corner of the valley.
Not a sign on a corner. An actual relationship.
That means using technology and modern tools to share information earlier, spot patterns before they become problems, and get ahead of criminal activity instead of just responding to it. It means deputies showing up in neighborhoods not just when something goes wrong, but before it does — building the kind of trust where a resident picks up the phone because they know someone on the other end is actually going to listen.
And when something does happen, those relationships mean we can get accurate information out to the right people fast — what happened, what to watch for, and how to keep it from happening again.
Why This Matters for Your Family
A deputy driving through your neighborhood once a night sees a snapshot. A neighbor who knows what’s normal on their street sees everything.
When those two things work together — when law enforcement and the people who actually live in our communities are connected and communicating — the whole system gets stronger. Crimes get reported earlier. Suspicious activity gets flagged before it escalates. And the people responsible for keeping Wasatch County safe have more eyes, more information, and a better chance of staying ahead.
That’s the kind of county we’re building. One neighborhood at a time.
Sheriff Jared Rigby is running for re-election as Wasatch County Sheriff. See his full plan at sheriffjaredrigby.org.
