Pat West prepares for his first Sturgis Motorcycle Rally as Meade County sheriff

Meade County Sheriff Pat West will oversee his first Sturgis Motorcycle Rally as sheriff after being sworn into office in January of this year.

After Ron Merwin's more than 30 years as Meade County sheriff, there is a new top law officer in the county this year for the 83rd Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Sheriff Pat West, who was sworn into office in January, might have a different role with the event this year, but he isn't new to the rally's demands on law enforcement.

West has worked about 27 different rallies throughout his career.

He started in law enforcement in 1992 with the Deadwood Police Department before serving as a deputy with the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office.

He later worked with the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation. For about 15 years, West led, directed and managed major crime investigations as the DCI Rally Task Force Commander specifically during the motorcycle rally.

Because of this position, he’s coordinated with local, state and federal agencies to ensure law enforcement objectives were met during the event. He did investigative work with narcotics, motorcycle gangs, violent crimes and similar violations during those rallies.

He said as sheriff he’s looking at it from “a different angle now.” The new angle is supporting his employees and keeping them safe as best he can.

West has to worry about his staff not only on patrol but also in dispatch and in the jail. The prep work for the rally began with several group meetings to determine how many additional workers the sheriff’s office might need.

Bringing in people from other departments or offices allows the majority of the staff to continue their normal work schedules while also having a few more deputies to help during the increase in calls for service.

There is also an increase in the population for the jail which causes more movement in the courtroom for those inmates and brings a higher need for more security, West said.

The sheriff's office brings in workers from across the state to help fill any role they need from patrol to dispatch to correctional officer.

They brought in about a dozen more deputies to help with calls this year. They also have 20 correctional staff members and five dispatchers.

These additional officers come from departments throughout the state. A few come from the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks department, while others are used from the sheriff's office reserve program.

The reserve program will bring in its own reserve deputies that are willing to work. Reserve deputies are usually volunteers but may be paid for working special events.

It’s always a huge concern but it’s always important that officer safety is high on the list of priorities, West said, especially when dealing with an increased number of people during the rally. If they need equipment or whatever it might be, he can help get what they need and make things better for those employees.

“You always have to maintain that concern level of officer safety to deal with these individuals because you never know who they are,” West said. "As the sheriff, I'm just looking forward to trying to do the best I can for my employees to keep them safe and provide them what they need to keep the public safe."

He will work the rally in a different way than he has previously and said he's looking forward to meeting new people from across the world. He will also work closely with other law enforcement officers that might not be from the area.

Meade County Sheriff's Office isn't the only agency gearing up for the rally.

The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office has already increased its patrol for the summer with tourism traffic in the area. School resource officers are on patrol over the summer because of the need, but they also get some of the rally shifts.

Deputies in highlighter special event shirts with Sheriff-elect Brian Mueller and Police Chief Don Hedrick in Hill City during the 2022 Motorcycle Rally.

PCSO brought in six deputies to cover more ground, mainly in Keystone and Hill City. Most of them came in from neighboring states.

These six deputies went through a day of training and were sworn in Wednesday before they started working the streets Thursday.

They handle a large portion of patrolling by foot in Keystone and Hill City so PCSO can continue to provide the same level of service as it does year-round.

“We want people to come here and have a good time safely,” Patrol Lt. Dave Switzer of the PCSO said. “We would like everybody to leave here unharmed.”

Pennington County deputies will also wear high-visibility polo shirts for the rally so they are easier to see on the road and in a crowd. Everyone out on patrol or responding to a call wears them.

Because they are easy to find, people often go up to officers to ask them questions or find locations.

Some of the men who have been regulars helping with the rally for Pennington County Sheriff’s Office hold up special event shirts while wearing them in summer 2022.

“This is just the biggest event in the year for an area that depends on tourism,” Switzer said. “It’s just always been a special event, and we want to keep it safe and keep it that way.”

While South Dakota Highway Patrol doesn’t bring in troopers from other states or departments, they prepare for the rally by properly protecting the whole state.

There is an influx of traffic not just to the Black Hills area but across the state this time of year.

Captain Casey Collins of the South Dakota Highway Patrol said the mission for the patrol is public safety for everybody, from staff to South Dakota visitors.

They will have safety messages about wearing helmets, not driving impaired, watching speeds, wearing seat belts and paying attention to surroundings and other vehicles.

They are focused on crash reduction because of how fast things can happen with the increased traffic. Highway Patrol also wants to have enough troopers available to work in high crash areas to make sure people travel safely.

“We want everybody to have a good time,” Collins said. “We want all the visitors to enjoy South Dakota and then the Sturgis Rally, but we also want everybody to be safe while they’re doing it.”

Contact Mackenzie Dahlberg at [email protected]

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