Jon Evans is the Summit County Sheriff’s Office’s newest chief deputy, serving the county and the department as Sheriff Kacey Bates’ right-hand man. “She and I work well together,” Evans said. “Her strengths are my weaknesses and vice versa. … We have the same vision.” Evans, who is a Summit County native, said he always knew he wanted to work in law enforcement. By the time he graduated from Park City High School in 1999, Evans had already participated in independent ridealongs with the Park City Police Department and Sheriff’s Office, testing the waters to see if law enforcement would be the right fit for him. “I love to help people, and it takes a community,” Evans said. “This community raised me, and this is my way to give back to them, by serving them and doing what I can to enforce the rules and laws of the state and the county.” Evans then attended Weber State University, where he studied criminal justice and sociology. He graduated in 2005 and was hired by the Summit County Sheriff’s Office in 2009 as a corrections officer. He also has experience as a patrol deputy, and he was promoted to sergeant in 2018. But for the past five or so years, Evans has reported directly to Bates. He was transferred from patrol to the jail and became its sergeant while Bates served as lieutenant, overseeing day-to-day operations of the corrections facility. Then, when Bates was promoted to chief deputy under former Sheriff Frank Smith, Evans took her place as the jail’s lieutenant. Now, he’s found himself stepping into her shoes again. With Bates having moved up from the chief deputy position to become sheriff, Evans was chosen as her second-in-command. “I run the day-to-day operations of the office, so everything falls on my shoulders,” Evans said. “I communicate with Kacey about things that are going on, and we try to solve the problems that come to our table. We really trust our lieutenants and captains to do their job, and they’re awesome at it. I just make sure everything runs smoothly.” Evans said he and Bates are on the same page when it comes to the future of the Sheriff’s Office. They want to prioritize helping those incarcerated access mental health resources in addition to further funding and creating programs to curtail substance abuse. “We want to treat the underlying issue so you’re successful when you leave,” Evans said. “If we can get you on probation and solve the underlying issues, we can hopefully cure the recidivism and get you out of the criminal justice system.” Evans has been involved in spearheading alternative treatment methods since his early days in the Sheriff’s Office. He said he helped establish the Summit County Drug Court Program, which takes criminal offenders struggling with substance usage and provides mental health and treatment resources. Probation officers heavily supervise participants and ensure they’re not relapsing or engaging in other self-destructive behaviors, and successful “drug court graduates” often leave the program with reduced or dismissed charges. “We also just started an intense outpatient program, which is a six-month program that is mainly for our state inmates,” Evans said. “It’s a drug treatment program, and they have one-on-one therapy sessions, group sessions and homework. It’s something we believe will help them be successful when they leave here. We’re trying to help solve the problem.” Evans said the number of cases related to mental health issues has been one of the biggest changes he’s noticed since he started with the Sheriff’s Office 17 years ago. That’s why he and Bates are such advocates for programming reducing recidivism. He also said there’s been a shift in how the Sheriff’s Office approaches its relationship with the community, including a drive to be more visible and make more connections with residents. “We’ve ticked more toward neighborhood-oriented policing,” Evans explained. “We’re big on being involved in the community and being on a first-name basis with businesses and citizens so they have a friendly face to come talk to, so that when something happens, we’re not the old school 1980s version of cops who are too tough. We like to be approachable. That’s what we’re all about right now.” That community-driven philosophy guides Evans in his interactions with fellow law enforcement officers, too. Evans said he prefers to have deputies call him by his first name rather than his title, and he strives to make sure anyone who works for the Sheriff’s Office feels comfortable speaking to him if a problem arises. “We don’t necessarily need to be on the same sentence, but we need to be on the same page,” Evans said. “We have a common goal, and it’s challenging to get people there. It’s a lot of political work. It’s a lot of face time, but it can happen. … At the end of the day, the end goal is the same. There are a million ways to do this job, but at the end of the day, we all come to the table, and we’re all on the same page there.” The post Jon Evans named chief deputy of the Summit County Sheriff’s Office appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less