Photo by Will Cornelius
After one year on the job as Berthoud’s Police Chief, LCSO Sgt. Justin Williamson says he could not be happier serving Berthoud.

By Will Cornelius
The Surveyor

After just one year it is looking like a perfect fit for one deputy of the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO).

That is how Berthoud’s Police Chief, LCSO Sgt. Justin Williamson describes it. “I could have been out of Berthoud this year. But I liked it so much, I stayed,” he says with a smile while sitting in his office in the back of town hall.

Williamson, a Larimer County sheriff’s deputy for over two decades, took over as Berthoud’s top law enforcement officer in March 2023. He replaced LCSO Sgt. Jim Anderson, who had served Berthoud since 2014. The Surveyor took the anniversary as a way to get to know Williamson and do a ride-along with him.

It was another regular mid-April day for Williamson. But a regular day as Berthoud’s top cop is anything but regular. Arriving at work around 7 a.m., another deputy informs him he saw a car that had crashed into a ditch on County Road (CR) 56 while driving to work. Investigating the crash, they suspect it was a drunk driving incident from the night before. They eventually find a possible suspect and start to process him.

However, a gas line breakage at a construction site on the other side of Berthoud forces Williamson to delegate further investigation of the crash to a deputy. At the worksite, Williamson gets a handle on the gas line leak and shuts down the site before moving to direct traffic away until it can be fixed. By the time the site is secured it’s midday and Williamson heads out on patrol.

“I think there’s a lot of good here. Citizens are usually really happy with us being here in a friendly way,” Williamson comments about the town and LCSO’s interactions with the community. After starting his law enforcement career working in the LCSO jail system, he says it is a pleasant change to work in Berthoud. “After years of not dealing with that, it’s nice,” he comments.

Driving along CR56 toward Interstate 25, Williamson says one of the most pressing issues is drugs in the community, specifically fentanyl. “It’s still a problem. We are not seeing any signs of it decreasing. We’re seeing it more and more frequently.”

Five years ago, fentanyl was confined to major cities on the coasts. But now, the deadly and addictive drug has spread across the nation, becoming an issue in every town. Fentanyl can be up to 100 times stronger than morphine, meaning even a small dose can be lethal.

In January, the LCSO received a $600,000 grant from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office to combat the opioid epidemic in the state. The grant will fund a multi-faceted approach to help repeat opioid offenders. One of the initiatives from the grant is a free Narcan kiosk at the LCSO main office in Fort Collins.
Narcan is a brand name for naloxone, a nasal spray medication used to rapidly reverse opioid overdose by blocking the effects of opioids in the body. Williamson says many of his deputies carry it with them. “Depending on the amount of fentanyl or opiate that the person has in their person, it could take multiple Narcan, to get someone out. And that’s generally what people have seen is with people that are on fentanyl—it will take multiple doses to reverse those effects.”

Williamson said proactive policing is another vital approach to stopping fentanyl in the community. “System-wide, there has to be resources available for these people to get help because it is a very addictive drug.” At the end of last year, Larimer County opened its first acute care behavioral health facility at the Longview Campus in Fort Collins. Since then over 1,200 clients have been treated there.

Driving around the back of Love’s Travel Stop, Williamson slowly drives around the parking lot and scans the area for suspicious behavior. The nature of the truck stop’s location and transient clientele makes it a hotbed for crime unfortunately. But Williamson does not see anything concerning and pulls back onto CR56 to head to another key issue facing Berthoud, unsafe driving on U.S. 287.

In early January, a head-on crash killed two drivers around Yellowstone Road on U.S. 287. As a popular commuter road with a booming population, safety has become a paramount issue for residents and users of the road over the past few years. Williamson says that he has emphasized greater policing of the road given public safety concerns.

Back in Berthoud, Williamson spots an RV parked on Second Street that matches the description of one being used by a person with an active warrant. After investigating the RV, he determines that no one is in it, but asks one of his deputies to keep an eye out. The man was eventually located and arrested the following week.

Not long after, Williamson pulls over a lady for speeding on First Street. It is a common occurrence he knows and gives the driver a warning to slow down. Williamson explains he does not like giving tickets and that it is more important to make sure people are driving safely than giving tickets.

The dispatch radio then crackles alive asking if there is an LCSO deputy at Berthoud High School. With the school resource officer at another school, Williamson heads to the high school to help with a student incident. The episode is resolved and Williamson heads back to the office.

Asked about changes he has instituted over the past year, Williamson says he has pushed for the LCSO unit in Berthoud to be more data-driven.

“Trying to use more technology. The Flock system started under Anderson but I think that we’re utilizing it more to its potential than we were before.”

For over a year, the town has been using Flock Safety, a company that specializes in providing automatic license plate recognition systems for communities, neighborhoods and law enforcement agencies. The system can help locate suspicious or stolen vehicles. “We have recovered close to $1 million worth of stolen vehicles so far,” Williamson comments.

No two days in Berthoud are the same for Williamson—and he likes it that way. He says it is a tough and demanding job, but one he is proud to do. “I like it down here.”