NCSO deputies respond to videotaping incident at Nye County Planning Department
Nye County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the Nye County Planning Department following a disturbance last week.
Sheriff Joe McGill told the Pahrump Valley Times that on Oct. 30, two male individuals abruptly entered the building and began videotaping transactions between staff and customers.
Upon arrival
When a female deputy arrived first at the scene, one of the men referred to her on the videotape by stating, “Oh God, it’s a girl cop.”
McGill noted that the men identified themselves as members of the media, but refused to provide their names, however in the video, the men referred to themselves as Enrique and Tony.
“These subjects were reported to be verbally pushy and inserting themselves into the private transactions involving citizens by recording their conversations and attempting to view their documents,” McGill said. “The conduct used by the males was that of what is referred to as ‘First Amendment auditors.’”
Spoiling for an encounter
Further, McGill said that the men, by their alleged actions, appeared to be looking for trouble with county employees and customers when none existed at the time.
“That was 100 percent their goal,” he said. “They were hoping to push a button and make a cop do something stupid, and possibly their video goes viral. They pushed the limitations of the First Amendment with the intention to antagonize law enforcement, then edit their videos to portray themselves as victims.”
Social media clamor
McGill’s assertion appeared accurate due to the public response on social media, he said.
“The subjects posted their highly-edited video onto a social media site and narrated it to make it look like the deputies and sergeant’s responding, did things wrong. Since then, our dispatch has received hundreds of calls, voice messages and emails from all over the country complaining about how the situation was handled. Those calls and messages were verbally abusive, vulgar and threatening to our staff.”
Consultation sought
Additionally, McGill said he contacted the Nye County District Attorney’s Office to evaluate the issue, while noting that the responding deputies exercised good discretion and did not arrest the men at the office.
“I was assured that the actions taken by our staff to remove the subjects from the location was not a violation of the First Amendment rights of the subjects,” he said. “Quite to the contrary, the subjects themselves violated the privacy rights of the customers at the planning department. The responding units exercised good discretion and did not arrest the subjects for the two criminal violations that they committed in the office.”
Staff support
On a final note, McGill added that the Nye County Sheriff’s Office administration is in “full support of our staff who handled this interaction.”
It should also be noted that no physical altercation occurred during the encounter.
Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com, or on X, formerly Twitter: @pvtimes
