GREEN RIVER — Shaun Sturlaugson was pinned by his children as the Green River Chief of Police Tuesday night at the Green River City Council meeting. He was announced as the chief of police on Dec. 8.
Sturlaugson has been serving as interim police chief for the city since April 17 when previous chief, Tom Jarvie, retired after 31 years of service. City Administrator Reed Clevenger said that while Sturlaugson had big shoes to fill as interim chief, he is the best person for the job. Clevenger said that Sturlaugson came to him with a thought-out plan for the department’s future, and that he works closely with the city staff. He said that Sturlaugson has shown a dedication to the value of working together across all the city’s departments.
While Sturlaugson said he didn’t want a big presentation as he took over as chief, having his family all home for the holidays provided a good opportunity to share the honor with them. His son, Ty, who is in the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Dental Program, and daughter Cydnee, who is a nursing student at Western Wyoming Community College, performed the pinning ceremony. His wife Rhiannon was also present.
Sturlaugson thanked the city for the opportunity and for their trust. He said no one becomes successful in law enforcement without good people around, and he expressed his gratitude for the rest of the department.
“Thank you to everybody who works at Green River PD,” he said.
He noted that Green River is always ranked as one of the safest cities, and that often the chief gets the credit for this but it’s the people all throughout the department.
“They deserve all the credit,” he said.
Sturlaugson has been in law enforcement for nearly 24 years, and he has been in Green River for 19 of those years. He has spent time in patrol, investigations, field training, and SWAT. In his leadership roles with the police department, Sturlaugson has served as a field training officer for 11 years, a patrol corporal and sergeant, commander of the SWAT team and co-commander of the Sweetwater County joint SWAT team, a member of the Sweetwater County Joint Communications Board, and as a captain for the last five and a half years.
