Dan Pineau details campaign for sheriff

Dan Pineau, a longtime law enforcement officer with experience in multiple Silver State agencies, is seeking the position of Nye County sheriff this year.

“Helping people is a huge part of law enforcement,” Pineau told the Pahrump Valley Times. “That’s one of the main reasons I wanted to get into it.”

A Nye County resident for more than two decades, Pineau’s bid for sheriff this year is his first time running for the department’s head position.

“I hold Nye County very close to me. I’ve lived here for 27 years. I did 20 years of law enforcement here,” Pineau said, adding further, “I’m going to be a proactive sheriff.”

Career and experience

Pineau joined the Nye County Sheriff’s Office in 1999. Throughout his 12 years with the law enforcement agency, Pineau worked across and patrolled Nye County’s various areas including Pahrump, Round Mountain, Duckwater, Tonopah, Beatty, Gabbs, Ione, Monitor Valley, Amargosa Valley, and Smoky Valley.

“Pretty much every part of Nye County, I have worked,” Pineau added.

Pineau worked as deputy, K-9 handler, and a SWAT team member during his time with the sheriff’s office but said that he found his law enforcement niche in drug interdiction when transferring to Beatty.

“I seized numerous amounts of narcotics and money seizures throughout my career,” Pineau explained. “I still hold the single largest money seizure in Nye County history, located in one vehicle, which was over $750,000.”

After more than 10 years with the Nye County Sheriff’s Office, Pineau went on to join the Nevada Highway Patrol, working with the organization for eight years.

“It was a great career. I loved being a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper,” Pineau elaborated. “It was a very professional agency. Our equipment was phenomenal and it was an amazing agency to work for. I was also a field training officer with the highway patrol as well.”

When looking back at his years with the Nevada Highway Patrol, Pineau spoke about the importance of working in traffic enforcement during his career.

“Our main job was to handle traffic accidents, reduce speeders, educate the public, and to reduce fatality and major injury accidents,” Pineau said about his time as a state trooper.

After working with Nevada Highway Patrol, Pineau spent one year with Nevada Patrol and Probation as an officer in the Fifth Judicial District Court’s Drug Court before retiring in 2020.

“Parole and probation was great to work with. I loved working with the drug court,” Pineau said about his time working in Nevada’s Fifth Judicial District Court.

Pineau said further that getting to help people in drug court was a major highlight of his career.

“To this day, I still get people coming up to me saying, ‘Thank you. You really helped me, you put me in the right direction.’… It’s not all about taking people to jail. It’s about helping them,” Pineau elaborated.

Campaign priorities

Pineau noted the combating of drugs, staffing increases, morale and camaraderie within the department, and community safety as some of the areas he wants to tackle if elected as Nye County’s sheriff.

“Those are the reasons why I want to get back into it and to make it a safer community — for the citizens of Nye County and the youth that is the future of this county as well,” Pineau emphasized.

For more information about Dan Pineau’s bid for top lawman of Nye County visit his campaign Facebook page under Dan Pineau for Nye County sheriff.