After more than three decades, Bannock County deputy calling it a career
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POCATELLO — Having served the the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office for 33 years, Chief Deputy Mike Dahlquist has retired.
Dahlquist joined the Idaho law enforcement community in 1988, when he was hired as a detention deputy. At an emotional ceremony Wednesday afternoon, more than 50 people gathered to celebrate Dahlquist’s long career, and his contributions to the Bannock County community.
After the ceremony, sheriff Tony Manu explained to EastIdahoNews.com that, with his retirement, Dahlquist leaves a massive void in the sheriff’s office. It is up to the remaining leadership, Manu added, to carry on the wisdom left behind by the retiring chief deputy, and combine it with the skills others bring to the table to create what’s best for the office and the community.
“You don’t replace a guy like him, you just put another person in there,” Manu said. “You take what he’s brought to the table and you try to pass that on.”
That task, Manu continued, is going to be tough.
Manu has tasked Alex Hamilton, formerly a captain in the detective’s division, to fill the chief deputy position.
Hamilton spoke with EastIdahoNews.com, explaining the difficult task of replacing someone known to provide wisdom and swift decision-making for the entire office.
“The guy is a rock, those are big shoes to fill,” Hamilton said of Dahlquist. “He’s a guy you can lean on. He’s not super vocal all the time, but the guy is solid.”
Wisdom behind a quiet demeanor seemed to be a theme amongst all those who spoke of Dahlquist. Some of those speakers laced that overall theme within some very amusing anecdotes gathered through decades of working together — stories about the sheriff’s office’s role in the Lava Ligertown incident in 1995 brought both laughter and tears to those in attendance.
Following a video tribute including photos of Dahlquist and his family and co-workers over the years, comments from past and present fellow deputies and the presentation of several keepsakes, Dahlquist explained to EastIdahoNews.com how difficult a decision it was for him to leave the sheriff’s office.
“It was really tough, but I’m in a good place right now,” he said. “It’s just the right time.”
Dahlquist spent his final days as a chief deputy with Hamilton, passing on some of that wisdom for which he is known, and he will spend the coming months “decompressing” before he gets back into nature, hunting and fishing with his wife, Brittney.
Asked how long he thinks it will be before he misses coming in to work, Dahlquist replied, “probably tomorrow” with laughter.
Addressing a briefing room full of people who came to honor his career, Dahlquist concluded his brief comments with: “I always wondered if I did enough. I look at everybody here and I say, ‘yeah, we did our best.’
“Keep fighting the good fight.”
