Lincoln County Sheriff

Welcome to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff Darren Short

Our Mission

We are proud of our commitment to being a trusted partner in the Lincoln County community, dedicated to ensuring that our county remains a safe place to live, work, and visit, by providing professional law enforcement services to our fellow citizens.

We are determined to do the right thing, at the right time, and for the right reason.

We are dedicated to the certainty that the single greatest measure of our success is the unwavering satisfaction of the community we are entrusted to serve and protect.

TEXT-TO-911 Implemented Across Lincoln County!

Citizens across Lincoln County are now able to send a short message service (SMS) text message directly to 911 for emergency help when unable to make a 911 voice call. Text-to-911 has been implemented with Verizon, T-Mobile, legacy Sprint., and AT&T. Text-to-911 is a life-saving public safety service that is meant to complement existing 911 services.

Text-to-911 was not developed as a replacement to a voice call to 911 in an emergency situation, but rather as an enhancement to reach 911 services in certain situations: When the caller is hearing/voice impaired or a medical emergency renders the person incapable of speech; when speaking out loud would put the caller in danger, such as a home invasion, a domestic violence incident, or an active shooter scenario; and/or when on the edge of the cellular network where there might not be voice coverage, but text messages can get through. When in an emergency situation, all wireless callers should remember to “Call 911 if you can; Text 911 if you can’t.”

Important Notes about SMS Text-to-911:
• Customers should use the texting option only when calling 911 is not an option.
• Using a phone to call 911 is still the most efficient way to reach emergency help. Texting is not always instantaneous, which is critical during a life-threatening emergency. It may take slightly longer to dispatch emergency services in a text-to-911 situation because of the time involved. Someone must enter the text, the message must go over the network and the 911 Dispatcher must read the text and then text back.
• Providing detailed and exact location information and nature of the emergency in the first text message is imperative, since 911 will initially only receive the location of the cell phone tower closest to the call’s origin.
• Text abbreviations, emoticons or slang should never be used so that the intent of the dialogue can be as clear as possible.
• Customers must be in range of native cell towers and phones cannot be roaming or they will receive a text “bounce back” message explaining that Text-to-911 is not available in that area, and to make a voice 911 call.
• Texts sent to 911 have the same 160-character limit as other text messages.
• Wireless customers who use Usage Controls should remove this feature to ensure full text-to-911 capabilities.
• Wireless customers must have mobile phones that are capable of sending text messages. The solution is available for customers who use the native SMS provided by wireless carriers. Customers should consult their over-the-top (OTT) messaging provider to determine if and how text-to-911 is provided by the OTT application.
• Out-of-Service cellphones will not be able to Text-to-911; there must be an active data plan for Text-to-911 to work.
• Do not joke around. If you text to 911, responders will be dispatched.
• Text-to-911 should only be used to communicate between emergency help and the texter. No pictures, video, other attachments, or other recipients can be appended to the message.

LINCOLN COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Lincoln County is initiating a Request for Proposals (“RFP”) to solicit sealed proposals from qualified professional firms to provide all labor, equipment, materials, and civil work required to design, procure, install and successfully operate radio and antenna equipment connecting three (3) existing radio sites within Lincoln County. The RFP documents are available by contacting: Undersheriff John Hyslop, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, 512 California Avenue, Libby, MT 59923, (406) 293-4112 ext. 1231, jhyslop@lcsomt.us.

Proposals must be received not later than July 29, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. MDT.

Undersheriff John Hyslop
Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office
512 California Avenue
Libby, MT 59923
(406) 293-4112 ext. 1231
jhyslop@lcsomt.us