Lyon County Sheriff Pope’s Message of the Week on June 20, 2025

Message of the Week 06/20/2025

In the spring, the Lyon County School Board voted 6-1 to approve an MOU with the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office to handle law enforcement functions in all Lyon County schools. This decision added the Yerington schools to the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, School Resource Officer program. In 2025, the Sheriff’s Office expanded the School Resource Officer program from three Deputies to five, including a Sergeant who oversees the program.

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office is partnered with the Lyon County School District and operates under a zero tolerance to crime policy. Schools are not immunity zones for crime; this policy does not mean that every student who commits a crime is arrested. Much like the adult justice system, the level of crime determines the action taken by the Sheriff’s Office. The majority of the time, a criminal report is taken, and the offending student is referred to the Lyon County Juvenile Probation Office. We have seen improvements within the schools around Lyon County and will operate the Yerington Schools under the same mindset.

Our total reports do not include reports for violations of school policy, only crimes committed in or around the schools. There are investigations pending from the last school year, but a snapshot of the statistics from the schools looks like this:

By Location:

Fernley Schools:

Reports Taken: 191

Referred to Juvenile Probation: 118

Arrests Made: 18

Dayton Schools:

Reports Taken: 89

Referred to Juvenile Probation: 64

Arrests Made: 3

Springs/Smith:

Reports Taken: 48

Referred to Juvenile Probation: 31

Arrests Made: 0

Lyon County Schools – Complete Totals

Total Reports Taken: 328

Total Referred to Juvenile Probation (JPO): 213

Total Arrests Made: 21

Total School Zone Traffic Stops: 214

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office and the Lyon County School District do not take lightly the importance of protecting our youth and making our schools a safe and distraction-free place to learn.

Respectfully,

Sheriff Brad Pope

This structured cooperation between the schools, law enforcement and juvenile probation is an outstanding model in education. Consistency, fairness and follow-thru are a big step in the right direction toward safe school campuses for all students. -Pizen Switch Times