STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Put your hands behind your back,” Issy Rossellini told Steven Aoyama. The Silver Creek High School student giggled as Aoyama put the palms of hands together thumbs up while she snapped double lock handcuffs on his wrists.

“Looks good. Alright, just leave him like that!” Hailey Police Sgt. Gavin Wrigley quipped.

“It’s a little awkward,” Aoyama protested. “I’ve never been in cuffs before.”

Twenty-five Wood River and Silver Creek High School seniors spread out across the grass near the Community Campus practicing handcuffing one another as a woman walking two dogs and two students wearing backpack strolled by, curious expressions on their faces.

The students were there for the new Law Enforcement Explorer Academy put together by the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with the Far + Wise Cimino Center for Career Exploration.

The academy is giving students an opportunity to learn what a career in law enforcement might look like.

The 90-minute academy classes are being held once a month on early-out Wednesdays throughout the school year. They kicked off in September with a look at the Fourth Amendment, established to protect people against unreasonable searches and seizures, and a look at what constitutes probable cause to make an arrest.

They will continue with a look at avalanche rescues and search and rescue techniques, arrests requiring take downs, vehicle search methods, K-9 work and mental health and well-being practices.

Dallas Faile, a Blaine County Sheriff’s deputy, demonstrated handcuffing methods on a student named Matthew, noting that the cuffs are too loose if he can get his finger between the person’s wrists and the cuff.

“We have to say, ‘You’re under arrest,” he told the students. Sometimes, he added, the elderly can’t put their hands behind them due to arthritis or a recent surgery so police try to accommodate.

Having the person being arrested face away puts officers in an advantageous position, he said” “He has to take another step if he wants to fight me.”

Planting a foot next to the person being arrested also puts the officer at an advantage, Wrigley: “If he tries to turn around and fight, I can push him off balance. You want the other person to be at a disadvantage so you’re in control.”

Ayoama, a senior at Wood River High School, said he had taken part in a Mountain Operations camp organized by Far + Wise with Sun Valley Resort, during which he learned about grooming ski slopes and terrain parks, working on ski patrol and making snow.

“I thought it would be cool to learn about law enforcement,” he said. “I might be an officer—I just don’t know quite yet.”

“I love watching crime scene investigation shows,” said Rossellini. “So, I might be interested, too.”

Asked how old one has to be to become a patrol officer, Blaine County Sheriff Morgan Ballis replied 21. But, he added, you can start as a detention deputy in the county jail at 18.

“We just hired a girl who graduated from high school last year--she started in detention this week,” he said. “Some of the best cops come from the detention center."

Ballis added that scholarships are available for Wood River High School graduates who wish to attend College of Southern Idaho in pursuit of law enforcement careers. Sun Valley Police Chief Kim Orchard is a graduate of that program.

While the Mountain Operations camp lasts for several weeks, the Law Enforcement Explorer Academy is the longest camp, Far + Wise has offered since the Law Enforcement Academy runs for nine months, said Jennifer Gennuso, associate director of the program

“It was designed for 20 students but turned out to be so popular we needed to expand to 25,” she added.

All the law enforcement agencies in the valley are involved, including the Blaine County Sheriff’s Department, Sun Valley Police Department, Hailey Police Department and the Bellevue’ Marshals office. Partnering with them are Blaine County Search and Rescue, St. Luke’s Wood River and Emergency Medical Services.

“It’s exciting to see it come to fruition, and to see so many law enforcement departments involved is tremendous. And the kids are clearly interested—they’re showing up!” said Ballis.

Ballis became interested in putting offering the program after participating in an earlier Far + Wise career camp while he was working with the Hailey Police Department as a school resource officer.

“When I became sheriff, it made sense,” he said. “I want to mentor kids, give them hands-on leadership, build the next generation of law enforcement.”

The Far + Wise Cimino Center for Career Exploration will offer its third annual Mountain Operations Camp with Sun Valley Resort in January. Other camps, including a couple of automotive repair camps, which proved popular last year, will follow that.

To learn more, visit https://www.ccefarandwise.org/.

BLAINE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE CREATES A NEW POSITION

Blaine County Sheriff Morgan Ballis oversees 56 employees, Ballis told students in the Law Enforcement Academy.

Elected to a four-year term by Blaine County residents, he appoints a chief deputy to run day-to-day operations, while the sheriff strategizes with city and county representatives and other leaders in the community.

A summons deputy serves paperwork and an animal control officer responds to moose in downtown Hailey and cows on the highway. Also on board: A county patrol team, Ketchum patrol team, two K-9 narcotics officers and four detectives

A new position for a behavioral health deputy was just created to team up with mental health clinicians when responding to mental health crises.

Only six of Idaho’s 44 counties have their own jail, with Blaine County being one of those. The jail employs 24 workers, including three bailiffs and four officers who monitor cameras.

Dispatch is its own operation.