SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome back to the video. I talked 1067 FM, the voice of the mount number hosting for we are so happy to have our sheriff, Navajo County Sheriff David Klaus on the phone for our update. Our sheriff's update. How are you, Sheriff Klaus?

SPEAKER_01 0:22

I'm doing well. Thank you for having me. Good to good to be with you once again.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Yeah, good to have you on. I guess um up there, because you guys are based out of Holbrook, of course. Lots of rain there yesterday, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Yeah, that was quite the cell that had come across. Somebody had told me they were watching the radar and it was coming over St. John's. Kind of weird to move back to the west and south, but this thing got over the top of Holbrook around five or five thirty to six and stayed for quite a while. And there's reports, I guess, coming more than two inches with lots of flooding across McClaus Road and 377 different areas. I know there was quite the little uh havoc last night of trying to manage all that.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Yeah, and we got this whole system for the whole week and even beyond with this El Nino, and a lot of people are talking about the Super El Nino, so we could have a lot of this kind of stuff, and uh we uh keep forewarning people about, hey, just be careful of those low-lying areas and flood zones, you know, extra, extra safe when they're commuting, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Yeah, and it's those flash flood warnings that we get in Arizona, and I know that people that that do pay attention and see that, those are some of the most serious things you've ever seen. Um if you look if you ever cross over the top of the little Colorado there in Holbrook, um, you could drive across it and then during a storm or you know, shortly after, or sometimes hours after if it was, you know, downstream quite a ways, and then you just see this wall or this big wave of water. You're like, how does it go from no water to an intensive water within us? And those are, you know, you got those those stupid motorist laws where people get caught up in them, or even worse, people get swept away, and you've had the search and rescue uh and recovery efforts, unfortunately, if those that don't make it, but that's seriously something to watch. Um I know the desert areas are some of the more concerned, but even we have them up here with the Little Colorado, and then we have these cottonwood washes and and areas all throughout the the White Mountains that do have those flash floods that come through them. And it's looking like one of those seasons. Yeah, they're saying it's supposed to be, yeah. Yeah, we've been so dry for so long, it's like we want it, then it's like, oh man, comes in comes in buckets, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:45

We've all been praying for tons of rain and now we're gonna start getting it, yeah. And for all our friends up on the in the reservation areas too, where their roads might not be as you know substantial, everybody's gonna have to be more and more careful. Because this Super El Nino or whatever it's been called, it's supposed to go for like 18 months. So we can have a very, very heavy winter too. You know, so we're gonna have to be a little more aware and keep those eyes open. It it's known for more I was talking to a meteorologist on my show the other day, it's more extreme. Everything is more extreme, and they said there could be things that we haven't seen for like 50 years. So we could be talking about a lot of moisture, I know. So we have to kind of be careful about that. So what's going on with the Navajo County Sheriff's Office? What kind of cool things have you been working on?

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Well, we've got a couple cases I was gonna update you on. I know those are always uh interesting. There's of course a lot of other uh fascinating stuff, but did you see the uh big uh flag pole and in Hebrew overguard that came up for Independence Day? I thought that was pretty neat.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Oh, unbelievable. Just huge, amazing.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

Yeah, it's a hundred a hundred and fifty-five feet tall. You know, I believe the flag itself is forty by eighty, but that was neat. You know, the community came together. Um I was honored or privileged to be invited to come to the uh to the flag raising and the Independence Day uh activities there on uh the third and the fourth. It was fun to be over in the Hebrew Overguard area. Yeah, so awesome.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Our county assessor Mike Montanan had been calling in about that, and I just love how that whole community came together, put that all together, and it's kind of the entryway, you know, to the White Mountains. It's uh incredible.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Yeah. Yeah, the patriotism and the and all the patriotic stuff that went on was was sure fun to be part of and uh loved loved being there.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

That's neat. So cool you could do that. So what other neat things are you you said you've had some cool bus going on too?

SPEAKER_02 4:47

Yeah, I kinda wanted to bring up a couple cases. Um we've put pressure press releases on 'em, but sometimes it's either through the paper or social media, but we love hitting the radio as well. Um it was oh, I'm looking at the calendar. We're we're already in mid-July, it's crazy. It's about mid-June. We had a we were doing an operation um in uh in Sholo and somebody we had kind of been watching and uh with the assistance of uh you know our major crimes uh drug task force team, but with uh Sholo Police Department as well. Uh it's kind of a transporter or a uh interdiction effort of these people that that transport drugs through and around and into our communities. But during uh a traffic stop there in in uh Sholo, it was I want to say it was mid-June, there were seventy-seven pounds of fentanyl pills, which is Whoa. Which is estimated, you know, you can never say for sure, but it's estimated around three hundred thousand pills. Um and they was, you know, detected by this uh canine detectives and they they found this target and uh I mean the the street value on that I forget was like uh nearing a million dollars, obviously, and then um but just think of that, three hundred thousand dosages that's going through.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

How many people could die? Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Yeah. And that's you know, it's that's the fight you see all the time, these these seizures, and there's so much more to the story, is is like, well, we gotta curve the demand, we gotta curve the you know, all these things, but you know, we just know Arizona's that that kind of that hub for transp transportation around the country and um it's it's significant amounts and you're just always you're always concerned about how much is coming to our communities. And this next this next incident was one that uh our those same that same team had been working in uh the Winslow area because this individual was um transporting between Phoenix and Winslow, Albuquerque and and other communities, and they had been watching him because they were getting intel from the people that were buying, where were they getting it distributed? And it takes time, it takes, you know, building a case for some for some effort. And this was an individual that was that was setting up shop in Winslow but was also out of the the Phoenix area and like I said hitting uh other communities. But he uh he was bringing in powder and he was assembling or kind of manufacturing the pills with a pill press um right there in Winslow and in Phoenix, but we got him with the powder, with the pill press, and all the different chemicals or you know, the the mixers that he uses to kind of codify and make these these pills. And so they got him not only with the substance but all the uh the paraphernalia to make the pills and he was distributing not only to the Winslow area but all the communities in in the White Mountains and onto the reservation community. So it was a significant uh it was a significant case, something they had been working for about six months to be certain about it and to kind of gather all that intel. But when they served that search warrant, it was incredible work. I mean this is one of the one of the bigger cases that I've ever seen that directly impacts uh the the drug market within Navajo County, and uh couldn't couldn't be more proud of these guys and the the dedication that they put into it. And uh like I said, it's a long effort, a lot of search warrants, a lot of tracking, a lot of surveillance work, and then they are able to to strike and able to find all the uh all the goods that they suspected that he was up to.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

So that is incredible. Yeah, uh you have such a good team, that is incredible. And and and these drug busts and this type of thing, um, we hear so much about the border being, you know, pretty much closed down under Trump and all this stuff. Where do you estimate that a lot of this stuff is still getting through? I mean, we know stuff is still sometimes getting through, but w where does it, where are you hearing it's coming from? Like we know there's a there's a there's definitely it's lower, right? Uh the types of seizures and things you're seeing, but for sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

I mean unfortunately there's always still the market and the demand for it, right? So you'll hear me talk about how we're trying to find ways to reduce that, like with our rise programs and stuff in the jail with with people that are addicted and and they're committing local crimes, but we're also saying, all right, if we can reduce the demand, you know, through different efforts, that's one way of combating this. But secondly, is you're exactly right, you know, it just depends on kind of the market and it depends on the the atmosphere and the culture at the border. Um we know that fifty percent of the seizures um come through Arizona. So does that mean that 70%, 80% of all the drugs flow through Arizona? It's hard to say, but we have noticed and you know, talking to the bigger picture of the of the like with DEA and and the the national picture, you're starting to see it flow produced in Mexico, shipped to Canada and put processed now through the northern borders one way. Uh the ports of entry through commercial vehicles, produce trucks, um, cattle trucks, I mean I can all the types of different products that come across the uh the the southern border into Navajo County. You can sit there and see that as one way that we're often going or excuse me, not Navajo County. Uh the the country, you're seeing that as one way that um you have to to find it. And it's not so much that backpacker coming across the border around the point the the ports of entry. It's really oftentimes comes right through the port of entry. Um whether it be a commercial vehicle or just a private vehicle, uh there's there's just so much of it. And we're also often also told, well, the product is in such demand or such need that they know, well, if we're gonna lose this much in seizures, you know, say it takes we need to get a hundred pounds across the border to to the to the interior of the country, and then we push we gotta push two hundred pounds across in order to get it there. Um there's there's you know that argument or that that conversation as well too.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

So crazy. I mean and and how clever they are to get it across different crazy ways.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, there's tunnels, there's drones, you know, there's the commercial vehicle, the personal vehicles, and that's why you've seen that those different um you know, the tunnel work is is old, but still you're like, all right, they've probably gotten around that, they're using drones, but they'll still occasionally a tunnel will pop up, and then you'll see uh a drone and the boats and then I mean it's just it's so much. It's a it's a ma it's a huge picture that we s sometimes um I think we sometimes grasp and other times it's like, well, I didn't think of that, you know. It used to be commercial airlines, then they kind of went away from that because there was more uh scanning and and and checking that in the commercial. Then it went to like USPS or UPS, and now they do more scanning of that and is but then they go back to it. I mean it's just depends on who you're dealing with and and how they're doing it. But it's just great. Yeah, the tr the traditional routes are just cutting across the desert uh because of the the intense force that's on the border now, you see less get gataways, you see less of those types of things. Um excuse me, you see the less of the backpacking on that, but you're seeing it in in these uh these other creative measures that they're doing.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Yeah, I know. I was watching um the latest uh Dutton Ranch, you know, episode. I hope you saw some of that, but on the commercial cattle haulers, you know, where they made an incision in a few of these calves and they had them numbered. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm like, that's nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

Pretty intense. I'm glad you brought that up. I went down to Bonita one time and there was uh a cattle inspector and DEA that d gave a demonstration of how where they cut the cow, where they put it, and they were pulling out bags that they can insert it. I'm like, you're kidding me. Oh yeah, it was horrifying.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

And and if it of course if it breaks the the steer or whatever dies, but they package them up pretty good and they put them in there. It's like, oh my gosh, and then you wonder if the dogs can find that because it's inside a cow's body, you know? Wow.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Yeah. Yeah, it's so concealed.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, so it's I mean, you guys are up against it. It's so great that you have a great team. Is there anything else that you have that you're working on that's cool you want to tell us about?

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Well, yeah, there's I mean, we're always looking uh for for like we've always recruited for those positions and asking for that support. Uh we have an academy starting here next week. And you know, the the one that starts every July and January. Um we have four deputies in there. We just hired a handful of lateral deputies, which is you know, people with prior experience come from another agency. So feeling really good about that. You know, on the patrol side, we just have a couple vacancies, um, although we have a few people in training, but we just have a couple vacancies there that we're always asking, you know, putting those pushes for. But it's uh in detention that that's um and it's a good thing. I mean, it's not that it's good, we always have the shortages there, but a lot of these deputies come in at a younger age. You have to be 18 to work in the jail, but you can be 21 to work on the road. And so we see a lot of these young men, young women who come in, get it three or four years experience in the jail, and they start the career, then they transfer over to a a law enforcement agency, either with us or others. Um, you know, proud of the work that they're doing, but it always uh leaves these vacancies where we're always hiring. So we're looking to get an academy push put together. We do our own for the detention side. Um we like to get about eight or nine recruits before we start a class. So that's kind of our big push, and we always encourage you to talk to your family or yourself if if you're of of that interest of starting a a job in in the public safety sector. We'd love to have you at the sheriff's office. You can call us at 928-524-4050. Ask for Kaya Carroll, and uh looking to get some some some uh young deputies to uh join the force if uh in our detention program.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

So see, that would be great. Great place to start, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:55

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, a lot to learn.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Okay, and and uh so looking for some recruits all the time, and it's great to have what I love about that too is local, there are so many young people that want to stay on the mountain, right? And they want to find a good job. That is just a great, great opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

Yeah. That's right, and we appreciate all those uh people that um want to come, you know, give back, be a public uh give of public service, and it's uh it's a to me it's a noble profession, and there's a there's a lot to to learn and a lot to contribute to your community and uh appreciate all the work that uh they do across this uh county and and uh elsewhere as well.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Well I'll tell you what, we appreciate you, Sheriff uh Klaus. We you guys, Navajo County Sheriff David Klaus, uh all the good work you guys do and all the gr uh great work protecting us. We so appreciate it. And uh anytime remember call in, okay, give us an update. Okay, Sheriff David Klaus, Navajo County Sheriff, we appreciate you. Have a great, great and safe evening. And everybody keep it right here. You're listening to iTalk 1067 FM, the voice of the map.