About

Integrity: Sheriff Larry Kendrick values and exhibits honor and honesty.  Sheriff Kendrick has made positive changes to restore those values to the Owyhee County Sheriff’s Office. He has made great strides toward increased transparency within the Sheriff’s Department. He has implemented smart cost-effective programs within the department that save the Sheriff’s Department and the county thousands of your tax dollars. He has also instituted and updated ethics and training guidelines for his employees.

Experience: Sheriff Kendrick served the people as a Deputy Sheriff since 1993, until he became the Sheriff of Owyhee County in April of 2023. Sheriff Kendrick has numerous law enforcement certifications and trainings including, Idaho POST Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, and Master Certifications.  His years of experience as a Field Training Officer and Certified Instructor include, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Survival Stress for Tactical Operations, Instructor of Technical Development, and TASER.  Sheriff Kendrick has served as lead investigator on many investigations and as the liaison and trainer of the Owyhee County Sheriff’s Posse.  In addition, Sheriff Kendrick is a member of, and endorsed by the Constitutional Sheriff’s Association.

Leadership: With 30 years as a peace officer, and after being appointed sheriff by the Owyhee County Board of Commissioners, Sheriff Kendrick hit the ground running and never looked back. He brought with him an experienced and professional management staff that has six and a half decades of law enforcement experience between them. Since Sheriff Kendrick has been the chief law enforcement officer of Owyhee County, he has led the department like a true leader should. He and his leadership team have conducted hundreds of audits and have replaced outdated and ignored policies, practices, and thinking with sound management practices, updated training for his deputies and staff, and modernized principled policies. Sheriff Kendrick has implemented:

Click the + symbol to read more

Prior to Sheriff Kendrick taking office pre-employment background investigations were not were not conducted on all new employees. This led to some situations Sheriff Kendrick had to correct after taking office. Detailed pre-employment investigations are now the standard, and are triple-checked with the county human resources department doing the last check, scheduling for drug tests and polygraphs after the conditional offer of employment.

Sheriff Kendrick believes recruitment should be an ongoing process, and recruiting efforts continue when fully staffed. Background investigations take time and it pays off to have applicants’ background investigations complete, up to date, and on a hiring list before vacancies occur. This ensures the people of Owyhee County are never lacking the service they deserve.

The Sheriff’s Office posts regular updates, a monthly OCSO activity report, outstanding warrant notices, job recruitment notices, special event notices, and significant incident reports. Sheriff Kendrick has started a quarterly live Q&A session on Facebook. see the Owyhee County Sheriff’s Office page on Facebook.

Too many patrol trucks were being taken home. Sheriff Kendrick has restricted take-home vehicles to full time employees and retired a great many of the patrol trucks that were in service. All of these improvements have resulted in lower fuel and maintenance costs for the department. This policy will result in saving the tax payers thousands of dollars over time.

Before Sheriff Kendrick took over the Sheriff’s Office, the jail had lost its certification, having failed the state inspection due to staffing issues and lack of training. His experienced management team has since brought his jail up to standards and has passed inspection.

Secured additional funds for jail equipment, upgraded jail cameras, equipped detention staff with body cameras and suicide intervention tools, improved and updated detention staff training, implemented programs that inmates can use but charge fees for services that bring in valuable revue for the sheriff’s department and the county.

Revenue from the Jail has significantly increased due to additional state inmate housing.

When Sheriff Kendrick took over, an evidence room audit discovered nine years of evidence that hadn’t been processed. He immediately took action and ensured that all evidence was cataloged, destroyed, or returned to its owner, and the evidence room was secured properly with two-factor authentication. Deputies were trained in proper evidence handling and processing.

Sheriff Kendrick’s team discovered departmental weapons, and equipment stored with criminal evidence, potentially causing legal liabilities. He has since implemented new procedures where departmental weapons and equipment are not stored with evidence.

Sheriff Kendrick has mandated all employees shall attend a certified ethics class provided by Idaho POST.

Implementation of a plan to maximize valuable resources through cross-deputation of patrol and detention deputies with Elmore County. This allows our patrol and marine unit deputies to work together on both sides of the county line, and increasing deputies available to protect the citizens of Owyhee and Elmore Counties. This plan includes detention deputies as well, so they may work at either jail and provide valuable experience and training they wouldn’t otherwise receive. Officers from other agencies have also been cross-deputized.

He has formed partnerships with Idaho POST, county and state law enforcement agencies to ensure that proper procedures are followed during critical and complicated investigations and the best qualified investigators in Idaho are working for the citizens of Owyhee County.

Sheriff Kendrick recognizes the Posse is a valuable resource for the Sheriff’s Office and the citizens of Owyhee County. Sheriff Kendrick attends the monthly posse meetings and has provided more opportunities and training for the posse to participate in patrol, detention, and search & rescue.

The citizens of Owyhee County input matters and is a crucial partnership for this sheriff going forward.

Sheriff Kendrick has presented three Fentanyl town hall meetings to increase public awareness and educate the citizens of Owyhee County on the dangers of fentanyl. A fourth presentation is scheduled in March.

Sheriff Kendrick hosted a live Q&A session on Facebook where citizens of Owyhee County could engage and ask questions.

Sheriff Kendrick organized a National Night Out event for first responders in August of 2023. He is looking forward to the 2024 National Night Out as well which will culminate on the first Tuesday in August.

Sheriff Kendrick has attended parades, community meetings, and children’s book readings. He has tables set up for community outreach, engagement, and recruiting during gun shows, the county fair, and community events.