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
In this message of the week, statistics of our school resource officer program were listed. Silver Springs Schools and Smith Valley Schools were listed together. The SRO Sergeant has separated the statistics to better reflect the specific schools. (School assignments will change in the 2025-26 school year, due to LCSO managing Yerington Schools going forward)
Smith Valley Schools for the 2024–2025 school year:
Traffic Stops in School Zones: 68 (not just SRO stops)
Total Calls for Service: 24
Walk throughs Conducted: 10 (each lasting at least 2 hours)
Reports Taken: 1 (forwarded to Detectives)
Referred to Juvenile Probation: 0
Arrests Made: 0
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
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