Hometown Helpers: Idaho State Police trooper helps serve and protect community
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IDAHO FALLS — Every week, EastIdahoNews.com is introducing you to Hometown Helpers in our community. We want to spotlight firefighters, police officers, city workers, snowplow drivers and others who quietly keep our cities and counties running.
This week, we are featuring Sgt. Blake Higley, a trooper with Idaho State Police in Idaho Falls. He has been serving the community since 2008. It’s his 14th year with ISP.
Higley said he had no intentions of becoming a law enforcement officer years ago, but he went on a ride-along with a trooper and decided he wanted to apply for the job.
“It was one of those things that I could see myself doing and (I) haven’t looked back since,” he explained.
He loves to help keep people safe in his community.
“If we can save a life, save someone from serious injury, save someone from tragedy, then that’s the goal,” Higley said.
Higley works in District 6 which covers 10 counties including Bonneville, Fremont, Madison, Jefferson, and Teton. Click here to learn more.
“We have the luxury of a large workspace meaning that we primarily patrol the highways and the interstates,” he said.
Every day is a new day. There’s never a dull moment.
“We see all kinds of things from moose crashes to large quantity of drugs. Recently, we had a stop that a large quantity of drugs was coming into the Idaho Falls area and so being able to stop that, that’s a total win,” Higley said. “Just trying to stop bad things from happening to innocent people would probably be the most satisfying part of my job.”
His job can be difficult too. It’s not the easiest and can get emotional at times.
“Probably the worst part of my job is going to tell people their family members aren’t coming home,” Higley said. “We’ll go to the next of kin, the family member that we have information for and we’ll go and knock on the door and ask if we can come in. It’s typically not a pleasant sight to see a trooper at your door.”
On brighter days, like during the holiday season, spirits are lifted up with an event called the 10 Counties of Christmas. Troopers from District 6 raise money for meals and then help distribute the meals in 10 counties.
“People probably don’t associate the state police with a charitable giving campaign but it’s been really successful because of the generosity of this community and it’s been awesome to be a part of that,” he said. “To be able to go and to raise funds for that but to see the community outreach and the support has been totally outstanding.”
Higley shows every day that he’s a Hometown Helper by serving and protecting the community.
If you know a Hometown Helper that we should feature, please email andrea.olson@eastidahonews.com.