Sierra Nevada College's next Fireside Chat, hosted by Andy Whyman, will feature Alan Tiras, best known as the man who succeeded Incline's first-ever Justice of the Peace in 2007. This latest up-close and personal look at yet another of the community's most prolific citizens will be held on Thursday, February 12 at 7pm in the college's Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences, rooms 139/141. Refreshments will be served. This ongoing series is a concept that grew out of the Seniors Conversation Café and represents a partnership between Sierra Nevada College and the Incline Village General Improvement District.

Washoe County will be out in force to support the annual Point in Time Count of the Reno, Sparks and Washoe County homeless population on Thursday, Jan. 29. 

As part of the community-wide Point in Time Count, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office will deploy seven deputies, three sergeants and one civilian to help conduct a street count of the number of homeless individuals and families sleeping in parks, by the river or in camps.

The Point in Time Count will be coordinated by Reno Area Alliance for the Homeless and Social Entrepreneurs, Inc., a contractor working on behalf of Reno, Sparks and Washoe County. The homeless survey is aimed at gathering detailed information about who is homeless and how they came to be that way. The findings will then be used to assess the needs of the homeless population and how to best address those needs.  The data will also be used in a grant application for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding.

“Rural and southern Nevada will also conduct the count on the same day as northern Nevada, using the same process.  This will give us a snapshot in time and when we combine our data with the data from rural and southern Nevada, we will have better understanding of homelessness statewide,” said Gabrielle Enfield, Washoe County Community Support Administrator. 

In addition to the contractor and sheriff’s office support, the Washoe County Geographical Information Systems Division (GIS) has developed maps for the Point in Time Count.  The maps will pinpoint specific locations of homeless individuals and allow the data to be linked to the census tract. Washoe County Social Services will also be interviewing current individual and family clients at the Community Assistance Center shelters on Record Street.

Washoe County Sheriff’s Office announces it has reorganized its Operations Bureau beginning Jan. 5. The reorganization includes a North and South District command, as well as the addition of a Special Operations Division.

Washoe County Sheriff’s Office will continue to operate the Incline Village Substation.  The substation will remain fully functional to service the law enforcement needs of the residents of Incline Village.  Personnel will remain at the substation to assist the residents as they have in the past.

“The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office is committed to the safety and security of the public and dedicated in partnership with the entire community,” states Sheriff Mike Haley.  “We want the residents of Incline to know we will be there for them and have no intention of closing their substation.”

The redistricting of the Operations Bureau will only serve to enhance the level of police protection enjoyed by the residents of Incline Village.

Separating the county into a north and south command will result in more consistently sized patrol areas, along with a balanced division of staff and resources within those districts. District boundary lines will be established by the Interstate 80 corridor.

The Special Operations Division. (SOD) will function under the same management umbrella as the newly established patrol districts.  The mission of SOD is to support all regional public safety operations by deploying specially trained personnel utilizing specific tactics and techniques in varied law enforcement situations on a countywide basis.

The Special Operations Division will be in charge of the management and deployment of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team, Hostage Negotiations Team, Major Accident Investigations Team (MAIT), Bomb Squad, Motor Units, Raven and Extraditions, Drug Interdictions Teams, Civil Division and volunteer groups such as Search and Rescue teams, Community Emergency Response Teams, Citizen’s Corps groups and Reserve Deputies.

Also included in the Special Operations Division is the management of The Northern Nevada Counter Terrorism Center and a newly formed All Threats All Crimes (ATAC) Team to be deployed to any type of crime, critical incident or catastrophic event on a regional basis.  This specialized team of detectives is presently comprised of members of the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office and the Nevada Department of Public Safety.

These changes allows for a better span of control and use of the current  resources entrusted to the Sheriff’s Office and helps to provide more efficiencies and better ways to provide a more consistent and effective response and services to the citizens of Washoe County.