Twin Falls County Sheriff retires after decades in law enforcement

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — After 37 years of law enforcement work, with 16 of those years serving as the Twin Falls County Sheriff, Tom Carter finally retired.

At County West, a retirement part was held for him on Thursday. He was greeted by deputies of his former department, as well as officers from the Twin Falls Police Department and the Idaho State Police. Even the Gooding County Sheriff arrived. Members from the fire department and emergency medical services also were there to wish him a happy retirement.

Reflecting on his accomplishments, he was glad that he created a lot of synergy with fellow emergency services.

“That’s been my passion since I’ve been in office, is I think we all work for the community and we all should be on the same sheet of music and it’s worked,” Carter explained.

Carter said it’s led to great partnerships with the City of Twin Falls and others. He added a key part of his success was the positive relationship he built with the Twin Falls County Board of Commissioners, as they helped him grow the department.

“When I became Sheriff the first year I was in office, I had about 80 employees and about a $7 million budget you know and 16 years later I got a $15 million budget and 130 employees,” Carter said.

This helped them keep up with the growing population in the Magic Valley. Carter adds during his time in law enforcement and as sheriff, he noticed some major changes in trends when it comes to crime.

“Drug use is as the root of all crime now. When I started it wasn’t. You know when I started you had property crime and you had crimes against people and you had this and you had that. However; you still got that now, but it’s probably drug related,” Carter said.

It’s something new Sheriff Jack Johnson wants to take aim at when he assumes the role Monday.

“We need to do better job on drug interdiction. If you are dealing drugs in our county or preying on our citizens saddle your horse and ride out of here because we’re gonna come after you,” Johnson said.

Carter said a lot of his staff and people know Johnson since he’s worked in the county for a long time, and knows that he’ll do a good job as sheriff.

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