Detective Lee is on the case

WALLACE – It has been some time since the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office has had dedicated detectives. Due to the nature of small towns and small budgets, Shoshone County employees are sometimes asked to wear several hats to ensure that services continue to be provided to the community. SCSO deputies are no exception to this rule and routinely preform multiple duties within the Sheriff’s Office that would normally be broken up into other divisions at larger agencies. Working and investigating more in-depth cases has been one of these duties in particular.

With the recent promotion of deputy Jeff Lee to detective though, SCSO now has someone that can take more time to investigate those more complex cases.

Lee is originally from Fargo, North Dakota and moved out west in 2013 to begin his law enforcement career. He initially started out as a Park Ranger in the Portland, Ore. area, then served as a police officer on the Nez Perce Tribe Reservation in southern Idaho.

During his time there, Lee juggled a full time job with the tribal police and a part time job with the Kamiah Marshal’s Office as a reserve deputy. Since the tribal police are not recognized by the State of Idaho, he needed to work with the Marshal’s Office to maintain his Idaho Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) Certification that he earned in 2015.

After three years there, Lee was searching for a change.

“I was looking for a new opportunity to do more in law enforcement,” he said. “I wanted to move to somewhere where there was room for advancement and also closer to a larger city.”

In 2017, it just so happened that he was made aware of an opening at SCSO by old friend and fellow police academy graduate, Sgt. William Keller.

After applying and getting accepted, Lee officially transferred to SCSO in September of 2017 as a patrol deputy. During his time on the road, he (in addition to many others at the Sheriff’s Office and in the community) noticed that there was a real need for a devoted detective. Someone who can take the time necessary to get the full story.

“When I was starting here, there were so many times where I would go take a call and have a lot of stuff to go-on, a lot of leads, but then usually end up getting called out.”

With the need for a detective being clear, combined with Lee’s drive and training, Sheriff Mike Gunderson decided to promote him in early June.

“I’ve grown up always wanting to be in law enforcement and according to my mother and grandmother, I’ve wanted to be a detective since I was very young,” he explained. “My grandmother always told me she remembered me talking about it when I was around 6 years of age.”

On top of his will to be a detective, his laundry list of certifications and trainings show that he is more than up to the task. In addition to being POST certified, SCSO explained that his experience includes: “being a member of an evidence recovery team and a tactical response team; training in the Law Enforcement Bicycle Association (LEBA) with receiving a certification to do bike patrol; experience with crime scene investigations; 3D digital crime scene reconstruction; FEMA incident command for law enforcement; National Incident Management System; domestic violence investigations; stalking investigations; archeological crimes investigations; school crisis preparation and planning; juvenile and autistic persons interviewing training; managing evidence and property; use of force investigations and training; officer involved shooting investigations; FBI-LEEDA supervisor training and much more.”

Now an official gumshoe, Lee has been busy at work the last month getting settled in and working on a seemingly never ending supply of major crimes cases. The work load hasn’t dissuaded him in the least bit though, as he has enjoyed having more opportunities to work with people involved with cases.

“(On patrol) it’s hard to be able to do follow-up and talk with somebody for even 10-15 minutes and get an interview with somebody, whether they are the victim or the suspect, when you are responsible for active calls at the same time,” he said. “There’s not a huge difference between a patrol deputy and a detective other than I will spend more time on cases that are more complex, require more follow-up, and talk to more people.”

In just the month and change that he has held the position, Lee definitely believes that he has filled a long standing void and gives credit to Sheriff Gunderson for taking the initiative.

“With Sheriff Gunderson, since he came in, it kinda seems like he’s been trying to make sure we have everything we need.”

In addition to working as a full-time detective, Lee also assists on behalf of the Sheriff’s Office as a liaison for the County’s Search & Rescue program.

With so much responsibility, it is evident that Lee truly cares abut his job and the people in the community that he serves.

“I plan on continuing my training, education and experience to provide Shoshone County with a well-versed detective,” he said. “As a dedicated member of the Sheriff’s Office, I will utilize my skills and training to provide the people of this beautiful county with an unbiased approach to uncover the truth behind criminal wrong-doings and solve crimes with bringing people to justice. The way I conduct investigations, gather facts and collect evidence will provide a professional and complete case product for successful prosecution. I’m humbled and honored to work for the people and communities within Shoshone County and all of the members of the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office.”