Blaine County Sheriff Morgan Ballis has now signed memorandums of understanding deputizing law enforcement officers with the Sun Valley, Hailey and Bellevue police departments.

The final MOU was approved Monday evening at a meeting of the Hailey City Council. Ketchum contracts with the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office for police services and does not have its own police department.

Ballis said the primary purpose of deputization is to quicken response times, with a focus on areas and incidents that border on or cross jurisdictions.

“It shows that we trust officers to make decisions, and sometimes those decisions take them outside the jurisdiction of their cities,” Ballis said. “At the end of the day, our citizens don’t care what uniform shows up—just who gets there the fastest.”

Deputize

See Full Page