Police Shooting in Rexburg

[banjomike]

It's equally possible that the Rexburg police were so tough that the crooks were run out of town as fast as they came in.
Rexburg has always been the most homogenous city in the valley, and it's very likely that their cops always had the entire town at their backs supporting them.

There isn't very much difference between county deputies and city police in Madison County now. One will help the other out, and in earlier times, the relationships must have been even fuzzier as to jurisdictional matters.

Posses here often had deputies from many counties in them; my grandfather told me about several big chases that occurred up in the wheat fields in the Milo bench area where Jefferson Co. deputies would cover the north, Bonneville would lead the chase, and Bingham would cover the south, all combining to box the crooks in outside of town. I.F. police would often cover the west in these chases, leaving the Bonneville deputies to cover the east.

Several of the chases ended at my great-grandparent's place, which was sometimes in the center of it all.

Having a town fully ready to support their police made a huge difference, back in the day. The James gang learned that the hard way when they went into Northfield, Minnesota, to rob two big banks there at the same time. The citizenry shot them to ribbons.

More than anything else, I think folks were more alert and suspicious in earlier times. It wasn't seen as being impolite for someone to ask what someone's business was in town back then. Growth and civilization has smoothed a lot of old common behaviors out over time.