Sheriff’s offices converses with the community over coffee
The Nye County Sheriff’s Office met with the public over coffee last week for a casual community conversation.
“I love being able to get out, talk to people, hear what people think and what people’s problems are,” Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill told the Pahrump Valley Times after the discussion concluded.
The event was held at Our Place Coffee on Wednesday, July 1. The public was invited to ask questions, discuss ideas and voice concerns. McGill and Undersheriff Cory Fowles were in attendance, alongside many other law enforcement officers from the sheriff’s office. At the beginning of the talk, McGill thanked his staff.
“They’re on the street every day, responding to your calls, all the community’s calls and keeping our community under control and safe,” McGill told those in attendance.
The sheriff’s office’s recent releasing of information about arrests, occurrences and incidents on social media was one of the first topics McGill discussed.
“We’ve been putting that [information] out there and the reason … we started doing that more than we had, was because people were asking for it,” McGill said. “People were asking to know more about what’s going on in our community.”
McGill also brought up current obstacles facing the sheriff’s office, mentioning challenges within Nye County’s budget and department staffing.
“We are better staffed now than we were three years ago, but it’s not to the staffing level that we need to have in this community,” McGill explained.
Another issue discussed during the event was the work the sheriff’s office does alongside other agencies, such as those at the federal level, including Homeland Security Investigations and neighboring state entities.
“We’re working on an agreement with Inyo County to assist us and to have a common radio channel so that Inyo County and Nye County can communicate with each other if we have a chase into Inyo County going toward Shoshone,” the sheriff elaborated. “We have agreements with all these different agencies that we potentially will work with. So again, it’s not costing the taxpayers any more because of those agreements.”
One of the questions asked during the talk was what happens with drug seizure money.
“What drug money we are able to seize goes back into drug enforcement,” the sheriff responded.
School resource officers were another topic discussed, with McGill explaining that he wants at least one at each school but cited funding and county budget challenges. McGill also discussed his plans for bringing drones into the department, but said those purchases remain uncertain, mentioning the budget again, while also adding that various grants are possibilities.
“There’s always things rattling around in my head. There’s always plans and increases, but everything revolves around money,” McGill elaborated.
For more information about the Nye County Sheriff’s Office, visit nyecountysheriffsoffice.com or the agency’s Facebook page under its name.
Contact reporter Elijah Dulay at edulay@pvtimes.com
