The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office is in the midst of a transformation that hasn’t occurred in a long time and it begins Friday with the retirement of Undersheriff Dave Leib.

The Flathead native will leave a department that he has been part of since 1990. Flathead County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Commander Brian Heino will take over as the new sheriff Jan. 1, 2019. He won the primary election on the Republican ticket and is unopposed in next week’s general election.

Current Sheriff Chuck Curry decided to retire earlier this year.

Leib has seen many changes in the growth of the valley, criminal activity and how technology has transformed law enforcement — for better and for worse.

The veteran lawman’s path into the profession began with a freak chain-saw accident.

Leib attended grade school at Peterson Elementary School in Kalispell before being adopted by his grandparents in 1969. He lived in a small community north of Libby before they all relocated to the Eureka area. Leib graduated from Eureka High in 1979 and he then served in the U.S. Marine Corps before returning home.

Leib was working in the woods, cutting trees, when he briefly stopped. His saw was wedged in the tree, still in mid-cut, when Leib slipped, fell and landed directly on the still-moving chain.

“It cut me down the bone on my left leg,” he said. “Fortunately, it didn’t get the femoral [artery].”

If the sharp, fast-moving chain had severed his femoral artery, the story might have had a much different ending.

Leib was taken from the scene by A.L.E.R.T. air ambulance, but his wife of 35 years, Dina, at that point had enough of her husband’s efforts to make a living in the woods.

After he recovered from saw mishap, Leib was working in a machine shop south of Kalispell when he took the test to join the Sheriff’s Office in 1988. He wasn’t hired that year, but he made the cut two years later.

As many who begin their careers with the Sheriff’s Office do, Leib worked in detention for a few years before he decided he wanted to get out in the field.

“Things were much different then,” Leib said. “It was relatively quiet then at the jail. We had 63 beds and there weren’t more than 30 and 40 inmates, which included juveniles. You can’t do that now,” Leib said. “The population of the valley was half of what it is now, the city limits ended just past Buffalo Hill and there weren’t nearly the drug crimes that we have now.”

During the 15 years he spent patrolling the Flathead, a few incidents stood out, including one in 1994 in Martin City that involved two brothers, Chuck and Mike Baker.

“They were having a beef with a neighbor and quite a few shots were fired before we settled it,” Leib said.

According to a story in the Hungry Horse News, the dispute involved both brothers being armed with rifles and exchanging gunfire with sheriff’s deputies, nearly six-dozen shots, in a late-night battle that ended with both brothers going to jail.

Leib moved up the ladder to Patrol Commander when Mike Meehan took over as sheriff in 2007. After current Sheriff Chuck Curry unseated Meehan in 2010, he asked Leib to take over command of the detectives. At the end of 2012, Leib became the undersheriff when Jordan White left the department for Two Bear Air. He has also served on the county’s SWAT team since 1994 and became its commander in 2005.

When a call comes in requesting the team, Leib makes the decision if the call warrants that level of response. As of one of eight deputy coroners, there have been plenty of call-outs at odd hours, too.

“It’s been good,” Leib said about his career. “I’ve enjoyed my time and what I will miss the most is the people I work with,” Leib said. “There are mixed emotions, though. It feels like it’s always an uphill battle at every step.

“The judicial system seems like it has swayed to the side of the defendant as opposed to the side of the victims and the county attorney doesn’t seem to want to prosecute a case unless its airtight,” Leib maintained. “And the drugs have really driven the vast majority of crimes that we investigate.”

Curry said he trusts Leib implicitly.

“That’s the key,” Curry said. “We frequently agree, not that we don’t have our disagreements, but we have the same outlook on the operation.

“I can trust him to make sound decisions that have the best interests of the public and the department in mind,” Curry said.

Leib said he will probably work for a friend, plowing snow and running heavy equipment. He also wants to spend more time with his three grandkids that his two children have given him.

“They’ve all remained here in the area and I’m looking forward to doing more with them,” Leib said.

Reporter Scott Shindledecker may be reached at 406-758-4441 or sshindledecker@dailyinterlake.com.