Sheriff Brad Pope’s Message of the Week ~ April 21, 2023

As far as busy weeks go, this week has been no exception across Lyon County. Spring is in the air (kind of) and that means the community is becoming more active and calls for service are climbing. Lyon County Sheriff’s Deputies and volunteer groups with the Sheriff’s Office are working harder than ever to make Lyon County a safer place to live.

Below are a list of events that happened during the week, and events that are helping to shape the future of the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, and Lyon County:

– The agreement on the zero tolerance policy with the Lyon County School District is going well. Our SRO’s and Deputies have been active in enforcing the law and dealing with crimes committed in schools. Deputies and their K9 partners have begun random sniff searches of the schools.

– Nike “Toni” Riess was located alive and careflighted to a Reno area hospital. I will not discuss her condition, but she is recovering! The swift action of our Patrol Deputies, Search and Rescue, our Investigations Division, Careflight, and Washoe County Raven Helicopter saved her life and I commend their efforts!

– Deputy Bryan Kharrl was awarded the Meritorious Service Award for the brave and courageous action he took, thus saving his partners life.

– The first “Town Hall” meeting took place in Dayton last night. The turnout was great, the public participation was even better. Members of the Dayton community expressed their concerns and asked a multitude of questions. The next “Town Hall” meeting is happening in Yerington, on April 27th @ 6:00PM. This will be held at the Pioneer Crossing Convention Center.

– The Board of County Commissioners approved the purchase and creation of the “Sheriff’s App”. This free app can be downloaded onto your phone and will be a great way to obtain information from the Sheriff’s Office, such as emergency events, who’s in jail, sex offenders in Lyon County, emergency management functions, notifications and general information. We are expecting this to launch in June. This will allow the community to access information provided by the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office outside of social media.

– The Board of County Commissioners approved the change of the “Shop with a Sheriff” donation account to the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office Community Charity account. The new account name allows the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office to accept donations throughout the year, and will help fund the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office summer charity program. (See next)

– This August the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office will be giving out backpacks to students of the Lyon County School District. The Lyon County Sheriff’s will begin raising money to purchase as many quality backpacks as possible. The backpacks will be distributed from the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office substations in each area of Lyon County. While picking out a backpack the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office will also offer child ID kits. We are looking forward to the event!

– I spoke to the Board of Directors, of Night in the Country in reference to launching our Junior Deputy Program. The Board of Directors were very supportive of the program and have put the program on the radar, and we are hoping to a charitable donation for the program!

Thank you for taking the time to read this message. Please keep in my mind we have released all of the information that we were comfortable releasing regarding the missing woman Nike “Toni” Riess, and will not answer further questions. I believe the information put out was pertinent to the public, and helped in finding her. Several questions have been asked that are personal in nature, which we will not respond to. This is an effort to protect the family’s privacy, not to withhold information.