Episode Details

Wendy Corr:

Well, hey there, folks. Welcome to The Roundup. We are a Cowboy State Daily podcast, and we focus on interesting people in the Cowboy State. And interesting defines - you look in the dictionary and you're going to find Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak. He's the definition of interesting, especially when it comes to law enforcement in the state of Wyoming.

So we're going to have a great conversation with Sheriff Kozak today. He's on location. We are coming to him in his vehicle. This is going to be a lot of fun.

First, I want to make sure to point out that there are some other really great Wyoming based podcasts out there, including the Wyoming Business Alliance business from the basement. If you are a business person in Wyoming, you will find wonderful resources, wonderful information, places to go, people to talk to about your Wyoming business. So check out the Wyoming Business Alliance, "Business from the Basement" podcast.

Thank you so much for joining us, though, here on the Roundup, because we're talking interesting, so I'm going to shift it over here to Brian Kozak, Hello, Brian. We are so glad to have you on the Roundup, Sheriff.

Brian Kozak:

Hey, great to be here. So thanks for the invite.

Wendy Corr:

Absolutely. I love the fact that we are catching you on location, like you are on the job right now, and hopefully we won't get interrupted by, you know, screaming lights and say, Hey, I gotta go. There's an emergency. But we're just gonna pray for a nice, quiet next half hour or so for you, because your life is anything but quiet, isn't that right?

Brian Kozak:

Yeah, it gets busy at times, but we should be good because, you know, we got good coverage today with deputies on the road. So yeah, I'm coming to you for live from Burns, Wyoming at the Antelope truck stop.

Wendy Corr:

So, one of the things again, this is an interesting thing about you. You're out there, you're on patrol right now, you're out there working. And that is something we don't hear a lot of sheriffs, that most, most of the sheriffs in Wyoming, I think they're stuck behind desks, but you refuse to be.

Brian Kozak:

That's right, yeah. I mean, I got my desk time, you know? I got to get in to get all the stuff done that I have to, but I like to get out on the road and patrol, and I like to actually work in the pod with the deputies in the jail and so forth. I work court security, at times, screening people going into court.

So it's just a good way for me to meet new people. And also, I get to learn from the employees, you know, about what's really going on and and so they share things about things that need to be fixed or changed. And so normally, they might be apprehensive to do that. And so we get to then fix things as a result of talking to people.

Wendy Corr:

You were the longest, I think longest police chief for the city of Cheyenne. Isn't that correct? Like 11 years you were the police chief for the city of Cheyenne. And so that's a milestone in itself. And so that really gave you that, that kind of immersion into Laramie County at that point. What made you decide to come and run for sheriff this last time?

Brian Kozak:

Well, there's a couple of reasons. When I was police chief, I actually saw some great opportunities, I thought, for the Sheriff's Office. And so I thought, you know, if I had ever had an opportunity to maybe be Sheriff sometime in the future, you know, there was some great changes, we could make some great opportunities. So that was one reason.

Another reason was, I did take a period of a couple years off