LINCOLN — In a town of 800 residents, there is one lone Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's deputy, Corporal Robert Rivera.
CPL. Rivera and his wife wanted to move from Helena to Lincoln to be closer to family. He has now been in Lincoln for 3 ½ years and says the work can be stressful at times. He is responsible for patrolling hundreds of miles
"I am covering Augusta, Wolf Creek, and Lincoln, putting on about 300 miles a day when we're doing that, so a lot of driving and then obviously the stressful part of going to a call that normally, maybe guys that work down in Helena would have a backup. We don't. We are not afforded that up here, so we are waiting an hour for backup to get to us," said CPL. Rivera.
But the move was made more accessible not just for Corporal Rivera and his family but for other substation deputies who cover northern Lewis and Clark County.
Earlier this month the Lewis and Clark County Commission raised the monthly stipend for Lewis and Clark County Deputies who live and work in Lincoln and Augusta from $600 to $900, and for deputies scheduled to work in Lincoln and Augusta but who live in Helena the stipend was increased to $1200 a month.
This is the first time the stipend has been raised in almost seven years.
CPL. Rivera says this will be a huge advantage.
"I can see it being a huge benefit, though, especially to someone who's just coming up here. We have a lot of new guys come up here quite a bit so. I can see that being a huge help," said CPL. Rivera.
Corporal Rivera says being the Lincoln substation deputy and a volunteer coroner for the area does have its benefits and is rewarding.
"Living here, you get to know everybody on your days off as much as you do when you're working, and they get to know you. I think that's more important than anything, because the community knows who you are even if I don't know who they are, they know that they have somebody personally, that they can go to with their problems. I think that is a huge part of why the sheriff has substation deputies living in there," said CPL. Rivera.
