LCSO Sheriff Pope’s Message of the Week: April 12, 2024

Responding to calls for service in a timely, safe and professional manner remain a focus of the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. One of our 2023 Goals, and continuing goals into 2024 was to reduce response times, then sustain the lower response times. As the first quarter of the year completed, we have met both of those goals.

Why are low response times important?

“The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office is committed to aggressively and professionally enforcing the law and protecting our communities against those who choose a life of crime over our quality of life.”

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office arrests, have increased as response times come down.

Clearly, if a reported crime is still in progress, the arriving Deputy can arrest the suspect. If the suspect has left the scene, faster response times will help establish an effective search for the suspect. Studies suggest, arrests made within 15 minutes of Deputies arriving on a scene are associated with a much higher clearance rate. Arrests made immediately have an 85% clearance rate, where crimes without an immediate arrest have a 34% clearance rate. (Cases are cleared with the identification of a suspect that can be arrested for the crime.)

Shorter response times also increases the likelihood of utilizing witness statements, as well as more accurate and useful statements from victims and witness. Importantly, faster response times may impact the likelihood that victims and witnesses effectively name a suspect to investigating Deputies.

Lyon County communities have demanded reliable estimates of response times from emergency services. Fire Districts and Law Enforcement need to respond in a timely, safe and professional manner to ensure life can be protected, evidence collected, and the offender apprehended.

Please refer to the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office average response times attached to this message.

Sheriff Brad Pope