Election 2026: Meet Incumbent Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino

Incumbent Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino sits down with reporter Taylor Inman to discuss his bid for a third term, outlining his approach to public safety, staffing shortages, deputy training, and mental health response in the Flathead Valley. Heino breaks down how his office is addressing recruitment, retention, and rising service demands across one of Montana’s fastest-growing regions.

The June 2 primary is where voters will choose who appears on the November ballot. This in-depth interview gives voters a detailed look at the policies, priorities, and challenges facing Heino.

This is Part Two of our Flathead County Sherriff Election coverage. Listen to our interview with opponent Evie Cahalan.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 1:25

All right. I'm here with Sheriff Brian Haino. We're talking about his campaign for Sheriff again. Hi, Sheriff. Morning. So we're going to start off with some questions, just a little bit about you. You're from the Flathead. You grew up here. Could you tell me what that was like? What growing up here was like?

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Yeah, I think uh it's an amazing opportunity. I, you know, born and raised here. Um my parents were here, my grandparents, you know, um, in basic homestead in Red Lodge, Montana was the original family. And then, you know, came here, had the opportunities to grow up here. It was a little different back then. I mean, there was uh less people, but uh I think that was the great part of growing up is we kind of knew everybody um and we interacted with everybody, and even to this day, there's just a lot of connections we have from from growing up in this valley. Many families are here and a lot of hardworking individuals that just, you know, um were truly helped each other out. Um, I think, you know, kind of going to them further ahead, that's one thing that kind of drove me to this career.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

So do you have kind of like an overarching philosophy when it comes to law enforcement?

SPEAKER_02 2:27

You know, I I think the best way to put it is is you're a public servant. I mean, um, you don't do this job for the pay. I'm you do this job because it's a part of you and and serving. Um, and I think we all do it for different reasons, but that's always a part of it, is you, you know, enjoy that um that drive, that that acknowledgement. Law enforcement is very easy to say, hey, I'm working 20 hours today, but you can justify it because you're doing these these things to help your community.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

What is your typical day like? Like what hours do you work or you know?

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Varies rapidly. Um it's well over 40 hours in a week. You're always answering your phone, you're always on calls.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Remind me how many deputies we've got.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

I'd love to say we're always at 65, but it doesn't always happen that way. Um, we we're generally, if you sort about it, we are sitting at about seven, six to seven deputies twenty-four hours a day, uh covering an area that's the size of the state of Connecticut and roughly, you know, 40 to 50,000 calls per service per year.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

And when it comes to retainment, what are you doing on that front to make sure these deputies stay with the sheriff's office?

SPEAKER_02 3:39

You know, there's a couple things. One, uh, we tr try to provide the best trainings aspects that we can, uh the best equipment that they can or we can. And um from the feedback we get from many of staff and other agencies is uh we are well above the nurture. Uh we send people to advanced schools. Oftentimes they'll come back and train our staff. We've had people that have come in from um other aspects of you know, volunteering their time. We have connections with uh the military forces, people. So often in our medical trainings, we'll bring in uh special forces guys that can help us with that. Um all of those different aspects is basically one portion is providing that advanced training in the equipment. Um the other one is is definitely you know trying to relieve, giving them the opportunity for time off, right? So that's like that basis of portion, so there's a balance of that. Last one we have to talk about is pay. Um we have pay has been a difficult topic in law enforcement, I would say, for the last couple of years. Uh everyone, I think, not just private industry and us, have all been facing this challenge now of, you know, we started at this thing and it just rapidly accelerated from uh service industries to whatever you'll call it. Some of it was based on housing, COVID, whatever you want to call it, it dramatically increased wages. The problem is that tax base doesn't always follow that as rapidly as um a private entity can. Um that being said, I do that is one of my priorities is that we need to pay a better wage. Um we have had a lot of uh movement on that. We really are enveloping a community atmosphere here. I think a lot of what we hear when people want to come here is they they it's supportive of law enforcement in this community. They don't always get that in other places. Um it is a community-based system, and that is why a lot of individuals want to come to work here. So um, so the retention part of that as well. So they create friends outside of the world that we live in, which is very important. We actually one of our main topics is we ask them, what do you do outside of this job? And it's important to have that so you interact with people that are outside of our world and that they realize that there are amazing and great people in this community, um, not just what they're seeing every night sometimes on in the field.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

Yeah, definitely some community building, getting out there and and getting to know people for sure. But one more question about pay. Um, you mentioned, you know, you want to get things to a fair wage. Can you share like what you consider a fair wage? You need to be like the starting wage for like in your region.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

It's changing, but uh you know, last year often I kind of targeted that 3536. Uh they are now there's entities that are now paying 38. So I mean, within that range is probably where we're gonna have to be in in the future. I think there is the balance now of um there's only so much funding that comes in from new construction, new build, and those types of things. And that's where this balance occurs. You want to add staffing, which is a cost, and then you want to increase wages, which is a cost, and you have to balance all that out and figure out where we can target the fund funding for the best opportunities to accomplish all of these goals. So it might only mean one additional staff, which is okay, but then we might be able to give a raise to the individuals at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

So you you kind of already ran through the first question I was gonna ask, which is what kind of trainings do you guys get into? Um, so I want to ask about a couple in particular that we see a lot here. Um, domestic disputes, you know, we we see a lot of those calls here. Um, what kind of training do deputies get on that front?

SPEAKER_02 7:36

So there's a couple. Um, you know, basically year of crisis innovation. We also have uh where we work with the Abbey Shelter pretty significantly. Um I think culturally that was a a large change I saw in my career as we focused more heavily on it. We wanted to provide better resources. There's been a lot more uh advancements in investigative tools, meaning, meaning investigative education and how to properly do that. And um So it's always changing in in the law enforcement world. I, you know, every year there's a new technology, there's a new information, there's a new law that comes into place, and you have to adapt and change to that uh through training, through sometimes tools that you have to give officers whatever it is you you're constantly adapting.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

We see a lot of mental health crisis response calls here, but could you kind of give me your take on that and like what kind of training goes into that for officers?

SPEAKER_02 8:26

So let's start with the beginning. You go on scene and you're trying to deal with an individual. That's often where our that's the de-escalation training, which is you know often a start of the academy and and and we we move it forward into the patrol aspects. Then we have the co-responders, which help us out dramatically, which was a is a great program. Basically, we have mental health professionals that now can come out and help us through other aspects. So that's a team mentality. We're there then for their safety, but they can guide us through that portion. And then the last one is the detention center, right? So often they end up in our facility, and we are now sending individuals in our detention center to how better provide levels of service to that aspect as well. So it's kind of three-tier to do that. Um, we'll never be medical professionals in in mental health. And I I do hope that, you know, I I do see some movement on that where we can provide better care and prior to them hopefully getting to us. Um, but it's a slow-moving process. It's um trying to get individuals the services they need, often with they have no financial means to get them. We're partnering with you know medical services now to try to, you know, get this sharing of the information back and forth the best we can, because often we may be dropping one off and we might have another call writer coming in behind it. So we're trying to get that pass-off information and just that coordinated effort so that when we get to the end, we have the best product we possibly can.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

So switching gears just a little bit here. Um I was gonna ask about immigration um and dealing with federal immigration authorities. Uh, could you outline how your department engages with the federal immigration authorities now? And do you see that changing in the future?

SPEAKER_02 10:14

So we've always had partnerships with the federal entities. Um, you know, we often talk about um, you know, you know, homeland security. We partner with them on many aspects. One of them, probably the biggest bright, is uh child pornography, um, human trafficking, those types of things. When you talk about immigration, it's it's a it's law, right? So we follow the law. So if you and Border Patrol follows the law. So when we get into the aspects of law, Border Patrol is doing a job on immigration. That is their job. Our aspect of it is identification of individuals. The law states, if you cross into this country illegally, it is illegal, right? It is it's a crime. Um the dynamic that I'll throw in there is it's overloaded. Um the into the whole system, in my opinion, is has been overloaded. Um, so there's two aspects to it that I guess if you want to don't mind portions, is um you have to have a legal route to become a citizen in this country, which is right now kind of bogged down with the court systems, but you also cannot violate the entry laws of this country. Um and immigration laws is probably um where we pass that to our partners, our border patrol entities. Uh we don't have the full immigration trainings to deal with all the different aspects. We have minor portions um under the 287 discussions where you're educated on uh you know different kinds of holds and these things and how that works with our detention systems. But overall, it's it's Border Patrol's job to you know to do that aspect. We basically deal with them on a on uh another aspect that might be traffic, a crime, whatever it is. You're trying to identify those individuals and ensure what they have. Housing is the other one, part of the 287 program. Um we're very well aware that our facility is at max capacity. Um we have on that note, we do partner with all of our federal entities, whether if they are charged with a federal crime and they are going to have to be held for a short period of time, we will often accommodate that until they can be transferred to another facility. Um that's kind of where we're at. We don't even have the capacity. Federal bed rates is basically what you were talking. U.S. Marshals has them, Border Patrol, all these different things where you can say, I'll go partner with you, I'll have a contract with you, and we will hold these individuals. But you kind of have to have those beds all the time. And you don't have those beds all the time because we're kind of all max capacity. And the other one is we have crimes that occur on our local level, and you want space to put individuals in on local crimes to do that as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Yeah. Um and since there's like this heightened atmosphere around immigration right now, what would you say to immigrants in our community um who are a little intimidated to interact with law enforcement at this time?

SPEAKER_02 12:59

We are there for for public safety, right? I think when we get into the arresting procedures basically for arresting someone and they are identified um through our system and sent onto the federal systems, sometimes we do see hits on that one. Uh victims of crimes definitely do have some protections under the federal codes, basically, depending on if they're a witness and those types of things. Um there's different variations of immigration, of course. Uh so I guess to answer your question, we will continue to provide public safety for all individuals within the county and we will still continue to cooperate with with law enforcement, but there are protections for them under the federal systems if they're victims of crimes and those types of things. Um the the reality of it is that immigration is going to be investigated and done by that that that crime will be investigated by the Board Patrol and HSI. We are investigating the localized crimes because that's our job every day.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Moving on to the new detention center. Um tell me about your thoughts when it comes to the design of the new jail. I know a lot went into you know fixing some issues.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

My entire life the last couple years, yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Um, proud of the team on that one. Uh we uh had a lot of different aspects on that one. I think one, I think the biggest thing that we we looked at was we did not want to put a product out there that was not um was not built for the future, right? So it's got a lot of dynamics in it that allow for the expansion and growth for future generations to come. The other one we looked at was maintenance. We wanted to ensure that we had the the best facility that was easy to maintain and operate, do those types of things. So, for example, um the ability to, you know, for maintenance hallways in the back of these pod units where you don't have to shut down whole cell units, uh, easier to clean out clogs and systems and those types of things. Um efficiency was the other one, was ensuring that we have the best ability for even sight lines was a big part where you can look down hallways and one person can see multiple aspects of it. Um and then the other one was you know the safety and of the staff and the safety of the individuals in there. So a lot of dynamics go into that, right? So we have a specialized housing unit for higher risk individuals that could be mental health or those types of things, which builds in a lot of different aspects of um, you know, anti-ligature stuff, uh safer housing, more access control, different, different aspects, and then smaller, more you know, single room units with uh day rooms that could be operated and out. Uh but our attention staff, it's the the flow to be able to have camera coverage to be able to um you know basically move individuals that are causing issues without having to figure out do I have to move four other individuals to get this same thing done. Um the last one we got to say it is staying on budget. Um, and we've been pretty uh serious about that. There was a lot of um things that we started with, and you know, when we got the kind of the information on the funding portions, we cut some things back. Nothing really operationally, but more on the for the example, the entryway got diminished down and we shrunk some things in those aspects because the more important part was you know the sell spaces and the inform the ability to to build into all those things that we were talking about. Um It will be a heavy lift though for you know hopefully we're breaking ground here um starting in about June, we'll get the bids back and kind of get that portion. But um for 30 months now, it's going to be ensuring all of that plan gets cycled out to the construction project and making sure all of this stuff flows.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Yeah. And when it comes to staffing in the new detention center, what is your vision for that and how do you guys plan to accomplish it?

SPEAKER_02 16:48

So we actually did a staffing study uh as part of this goal. Um so there's there's a couple of portions. One, we're gonna probably need an additional person per shift on the on the in the internal aspects of it. Um our medical staffing is gonna have to expand a bit and in order to provide that coverage. Um there's some aspects we are outside of us a little bit, like our IT division, right? We have a lot of uh information and technology in that building. Maintenance is another one to ensure that we have all the the availability or staff to maintain the building, but ensuring that we have those functional capabilities. But priority, like I said, our plan right now is kind of working with, uh, we've actually had these discussions is with the commission to say, hey, we're we're gonna start building out this project, right? So we don't want to hire the guys 20 minutes before the doors open. We want to kind of build into this as we go so that when we're we're ready, they're trained up because detention officers are much like law enforcement. They take time to learn their procedures, go to training, do all that kind of stuff. So those are these are these transition points we're gonna start to see. Um, but we're pretty excited.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

I want to give you a chance to respond to something that Evie said in our interview. Um, she talked a lot about the need to increase response times to more rural areas and having better interactions with deputies in those cases. Could you give me your response to that?

SPEAKER_02 18:08

So I think the first one, we have the largest volunteer groups in the state of Montana here. And they are amazing people. But they already do more than 10,000 hours a year uh volunteering for these organizations. They cover all of our special workers. They come out and support patrol, they do all these different things. And I think it's it's good to realize these people are from our community that have jobs and they work in different aspects and they they're doing this on top of whatever else their their their aspects are. Um there's also statutory provisions that say you cannot replace paid law enforcement with volunteers. And while I think there's we have been to use them on many functions, school safety. Remember, we've had school threats and uh we page those individuals out, and they've been within our schools for periods of times that uh allow for that. But you're asking if we're saying that that is going to be a supplemental force, I think there's going to be some statutory restrictions that would occur with that. But I think you also are asking people that are already donating ten to fifteen thousand hours a year or two to now basically not do their their regular jobs and which is their their funding sources, to cover all these different dynamics. I think the the answer on the professionalism is I we receive complaints oftentimes from different aspects of it. And majority of the time of those complaints, it is the individual that is they are dealing with that is higher uh stress than my deputies. Our deputies are made out. We hire from different aspects from special forces military guys to previous law enforcements to whoever. We hire the best trainers that we could possibly afford using national base systems, everything else. Um and they're dealing with a dynamic that um you know they're trying to cover a large area, a lot of calls, um, some high-risk calls, and um they basically do that every single day. And I used to receive more thank you letters than I ever do complaints. And I think that's important to realize in law enforcement, and here's why I say this in the world that I grew up in, uh I have always appreciated and respected public safety, law enforcement, and those types of aspects. Somewhere along the line culturally. Law enforcement was demonized. I don't know why, and these people basically are are doing a great job every single day what they do, because we are asking them to run into other environments, saving people's lives or doing whatever, not asking anything. We don't care how you vote, what you look like, where you've been, if we dealt with you on Tuesday, if your life is in jeopardy, law enforcement is responding and they will continue to do that. The that is why I stand up for them every single day. And I think the important thing that I want to say is I as a sheriff my job is to guess ensure public safety and do all that kind of stuff, but it's also to speak out and defend law enforcement in our community. And we have to do that for people to be want to work here. And I think the problem is we have so many people that are used to an idea, TV, whatever it is. Um you are the twelfth or fifteenth call of that individual on any single day. Um yes, your your call is just as important as the last one, but they have to prioritize every single day to do their jobs. Um and they train hard, they do their aspects, uh, they work for this community, they're raising their families here, they are people. And I guess I get very frustrated when um people come in and say that uh Flathead County is not doing what they're supposed to do or whatever. And I grew up in this community, I think we have done amazing things in this community. And the reason people want to move here is because of those amazing things. But I always hear everybody else come in, well, where I'm from, we did it this way, and we did it that way, and we had five minute responses. There's a reason people move here. It's because we take the totality of information and we adapt people's hands. We don't take a once one shot thing at it. And I think my aspect is on that one that she my opponent is very much taking East Coast discussions, east coast operations, and trying to turn it into Western Cherokee operations. And they are totally different. You are the person that is respected. You are the one that is speaking for your guys. You are dealing with all different aspects. You are the coroner. You are the sheriff. You are the search and rescue leader. And I'm also the OES director. And you take that with pride. Because each one of those responsibilities is written into the laws that you are supposed to do. And you can't just say, I'm not going to do them. You have to do it. But back to my point. We have amazing people. If people have issues with organizations, there is a complaint process that will be fully investigated. We do it all the time. And again, I get more thank you letters than complaints. Because these people are committed to their communities. They care about their communities. And they dedicate their, you know, 20 or 30 years of their lives to running towards the danger rather than running away. So I will defend them um in that conversation every time.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Um Evi got an endorsement from the GOP, the local GOP party.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

Can you tell me your reaction to that when I can I was disappointed in uh in that discussion? I will consider I consider myself a conservative individual. I think I have proven that. Uh we have dealt with a lot of constitutional issues, I guess, uh both sides of that, where everyone has their constitutional rights here. I been very specific. Everyone has constitutional rights, and my job is to protect those rights. That's their first amendment. That's all these different aspects, but everyone has equal opportunity. Um I think the other one is a pretty fiscally responsible. We're having conversations about money. I don't just say, yes, we can do anything and everything in the world because I understand that money comes from the taxpayers of this community. And that starts with the jail, right? We have said we are going to do this for$105 million, and I we're very serious about that. I think I'm I'm very conscientious of people's uh that this is people's money that we want to be uh reliant upon. So I think um it was disappointing in the fact I think that we uh I felt like that was, you know, the the pre-balance in those discussions. Um and then I felt like it kind of turned to uh I wasn't on a committee or this or that or whatever it was. Um, but I moved forward. And I think the blessing in that is the community response that came out after that was um hugely supportive of me. And I think that really showed or kicked off this discussion about you know running for this third term and you know the leadership that I provide is what this community wanted. And um we received funding, we received a whole bunch of different support. Um I keep running out of signs. It's I work for the people, and that's basically what I I learned from this is I work for the people and I will continue to work for the people. Um and it's I was disappointed, but I will vote for it.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

I think just to kind of cap us off here, um, why do you believe voters should elect you for another term?

SPEAKER_02 26:51

I'm proven. I think I have the background to to do this job. Um I have worked in every division in the sheriff's office. I um have created great partnerships. Uh we've we wrote the list out the other day, and all of these different things, uh everything on the list that we originally started with has been accomplished except for the staffing one, which I we're constantly working on. Um I'm community-based. I I think I interact well with with people in the community. I try to reach out as much as we can. Um we've done some amazing things. I mean, starting a whole canine program and working on this and expanding our volunteerships and um, you know, advancing training and doing all these different aspects. We've accomplished those tasks over the last uh seven years, and we're looking forward to the future. The other one is is to walk into this job, and now we have a new building project that's that's gonna be highly dynamic, is, is tough. Um the dynamics of all the different aspects of the sheriff's office need to be covered. Um, and I don't I think I'm the only one that has those dynamics to do that. Uh but again it's back to I think I'm the candidate that is doing this because of the community. I'm not doing it because of myself, I'm doing it because of my community. Uh as of what they did for me by letting me grow up here, providing me a whole bunch of different opportunities, and now um I get the opportunity to get back. I've got twenty-five years in right now. This will put me at almost thirty by the time we're done. Um I do this because I want to get back to the people. I want to build a great organization, continue to build a great organization. Um and basically we I have been the one that's been through the fire. I mean, we all stood together in this community through COVID. We went through different aspects of things, this mass growth. I didn't run away. I stood strong, we made it through it, and we came out strong over because so I think um have a lot of guys in the military and um education's important, don't even rock. But uh I think the people that are respected military environments and in law enforcement are the ones that have stood toe-to-toe with the guys for years doing the job. Um and I've generally been operational the whole time. Um administration was new to me. I learned that process, uh, the different dynamics it takes to do that. But you have to understand where a detective's mind or a patrol guy or a search and rescue person or whatever, where they're standing and where they're sitting, so you can give them the best information resources and tools um to do that and basically fight for them to ensure that they have us. So but yeah, I'm here for the community and uh I think I'm really down to if the people want me to be the sheriff, then I re I think I'm ready, you know, to to keep going for these portions. And actually I know I'm ready. I just I think the community will decide. And I'm uh pretty sure that that uh that's what they want um with the output and input I've gotten. Um but I have to thank them too for allowing me to do this for all these years.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

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