LCSO focusing on emergencies during COVID-19 outbreak

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

With the public health threat of the COVID-10 outbreak, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office is modifying its services to priortize emergency calls.

Sheriff Frank Hunewill issued a statement Monday detailing the measures the sheriff’s office is taking, including patrol procedures, the use of substations, and within the jail.

The full text of Huneill’s statement follows:

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office is treating the threat of the COVID-19 virus as a serious issue.

We still have a responsibility to the citizens of Lyon County to do our job.  We will continue to respond to calls for service.  As this issue continues to progress or not, we would ask the public to be considerate of the calls for service they request so that we can use the resources we have available to address potential true emergencies.  We are going to modify some of the services we do offer for a temporary period of time.

Patrol procedures—we are going to try and focus on emergency calls for service first.  Non-emergency calls for service may be delayed.

 Our Volunteer Program (VIP) is going to be suspended until April 6^th, this will affect our ability to conduct vehicle inspections in a timely fashion.

We will be cutting back on FASTT operations in the Jail.

We will be cutting back on MOSTT operations throughout the county.

For the time being our substations will remain open.  Our secretaries have been given instructions on the use of proper PPE. We would ask the public to also help us by practicing good hygiene skills and remaining home if you are exhibiting any of symptoms.   If the situation becomes expanded we will be closing the remote substations and referring everyone to the main office in Yerington.

The detention facility will continue to operate as normal.  We have developed an internal plan to deal with the situation in the event that a confirmed exposure takes place.

Lyon County Dispatch has already implemented protocols in regards to handling potential calls that may have some Nexus to virus exposure.

All of our personnel have received and continue to receive updated information as it come from both State and Federal sources.  We are working closely with the County, surrounding jurisdictions, State and Federal organizations to mitigate the outcome and long term effects as a result of potential COVID-19 exposures.

We will keep the citizens of Lyon County and the media updated as information becomes available.