KEYSTONE, S.D. (KELO) — Cody Sunderland is a Sergeant with the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office, but this week, he has a new title; Special Deputy with the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office.
Sunderland is one of a number of law enforcement officials from across the country who have travelled to the Black Hills in order to provide support for local law enforcement during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Some have come from as far as Delaware this year.
“When we come out here as a special deputy, we’re assigned to either Keystone, Hill City or Wall,” Sunderland said. “We help the full-time staff with safety in the town.”
This generally means a lot of walking.
“A lot of just walking around, talking to people — being visible,” said Sunderland. He says that on any given day, he walks about 10 miles.
A large part of the job for Sunderland and other out-of-town officers is simply being an active presence. By being visible and walking around, they serve as a sort of deterrent against bad behavior.
“We do 10 days total,” said Sunderland. “Our first day is training, and then we do nine days straight out on the streets.”
This is Sunderland’s 7th year working Rally patrol for the PCSO.
“I had some friends that I knew who knew some people out here — I applied back then and have been coming back ever since,” he said. “I use this as kind of a vacation away from my full-time job.”
Sunderland and the other special deputies work 10-hour shifts and are housed at Camp Rapid in Rapid City.
“The temperature has been really warm here in Keystone,” Sunderland said, though thankfully the temperature had cooled by the evening.
Over the years, Sunderland has spent his time patrolling both Keystone and Hill City. “This will be the third year I’ve done in Keystone,” he said.
Having been in the Hills for seven events, Sunderland has noticed some changes over the years.
“The biggest thing we’ve seen in Keystone is there seems to be a lot more turnover with the businesses lately,” Sunderland said. “We get a lot of questions about where businesses are that used to be here. The taffy shop is probably the most common right now — everyone asks where the taffy shop is, and they’re no longer here.”
As for crime, Sunderland says there’s really not much, at least not in Keystone. “The biggest reason we’re out here is just to prevent crime,” he said. “And I think we do a good job — we don’t see a lot of crime — just some traffic violations, small things like that, and accidents.”