Message From the Sheriff, January 2010

It is officially another year and the talk is that 2010 will be another year to be concerned about the state and nation’s economy.  Nevada is facing some tough times dealing with deficits and what the state can do to generate revenue other than gaming.  Gaming has been the leading source of generating revenue for the State of Nevada historically.  Our county is also facing tough times as we are now feeling the impact of the economic downturn.  I try to keep informed, as most of you readers do, about our economic status.  I also try to keep abreast of the industry future in our area, with gold mining being the major employers for area residents. Also, with the economic downturn comes unemployment.  It has been a very long time since we, as a state or nation, have seen unemployment at such a high.  In other cities and counties across the state, there have been layoffs and furloughs instituted as a means to meet budgetary constraints.  Both the private and public sector have been affected in job loss.  The State of Nevada employees are seeing this first hand.

Humboldt County has not been affected to the extent that other counties have as of yet.  This may prove to be a very trying time for all of us.  The economy sometimes makes people desperate and often we in law enforcement see a rise in crimes related to property.  In the latter part of this article, I will hopefully give some useful advice to keep your property and assets a little more safe.

The age we find ourselves living in is mostly technology driven.  By that I mean many of the services we have and devices we use are technology based tools.  Items such as computers, cell phones, Onstar in our vehicles and online banking.  I was talking with some friends about the use of pencil and paper being a thing of the past.  Simple letters sent by US mail as the primary form of correspondence has been far surpassed by email, facebook, my space and twitter.  Even the intended use of cell phones as a means of talking to each other has been altered by the onset of texting.  Typing phone calls instead of actually talking by voice to one another is the standard now.  We are even seeing more people using cell phones as their primary telephone.  I never would have imagined ten to fifteen years ago that these would be the new standards for conversing.  Just think of what the standards will be ten to fifteen years from now.

With all of this technology, there are now new ways for criminals to access your information.  The most serious is someone assuming your identity.  Identity theft is a real issue and we have investigated more of these in the last couple of years.  This crime has prompted programs to be started like the Identity theft passport program instituted through the Attorney General’s office.  With your information, it is conceivable that someone could have access to bank accounts, be granted loans, obtain credit cards and make large purchases of goods or services that YOU are responsible for.  Be diligent about checking your credit score once a year.  Make sure you monitor your bank accounts regularly.  Look into the programs credit card issuers have for fraud protection.  Do not leave your computers linked to the internet while you are not actively online.  While on the internet, do not respond to inquiries that look to good to be true.  Online scams are a very hot topic.

The last item I would like to touch on is that you need to be aware of is the protection of your home.  I have explained in previous articles how important it is to get in the habit of securing your home.  Make sure your doors are locked and windows are secure when you leave.  If you intend to go out of town for vacation or business, you can request a house watch be placed on your residence.  Local law enforcement will make efforts to monitor your residence while you are away.  If you choose to do this, call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch at 623-6429.  Get to know your neighbors and look out for one another.  Report any suspicious behavior to law enforcement.  Remember, it takes all of us to look out for one another.  We will make it through this rough time if we all pull together.

Respectfully Submitted

Ed Kilgore-Sheriff
Humboldt County    

Message From the Sheriff, February 2010

During any given week there are scores of television shows on the big or little screen having to do with the field of law enforcement. Shows such as "CSI", "COPS", "Law and Order", and "America’s Most Wanted" can be found at about any time of the day on any channel. Hollywood has had a fascination with police work for literally decades. In fact, there are probably many law enforcement officers still on the job today who were recruited into this business by watching "Adam-12" or 'Dragnet". One of the downsides of these shows though is some people’s beliefs that what they are watching is true. Because of this, the public’s perception of law enforcement and how we do our jobs can be a far stretch from reality. For instance, I heard a story about a lecture that was given in Verdi, Nevada, a few years ago on crime scene investigations. The criminalist who was teaching the class told a story about how several court cases had been lost which, when the jurors were spoken to after the fact, they all commented that they reached the decision to acquit the defendant because the case was not investigated like they do on "CSI". This, to say the least, is very troublesome.

Along the same lines, how many times have people developed negative perceptions concerning law enforcement officers’ involvement in a deadly force related incident or, possibly, a pursuit? These perceptions very often are simply driven from a lack of actual knowledge of how police are trained or, again possibly, from something they have seen on television or in the theater.

With these things in mind, it falls to law enforcement to educate the public as to what we actually do, and how we do it. This is a very large and important component of Community Policing. Any partnership works better if both the parties to that partnership are familiar and comfortable with each other.

In an effort to explain to our community what we are doing and how we do it, I have decided to take advantage of this time with you each month to highlight and explain a different function of your Sheriff’s Office. With each upcoming article, I will pick a different section of the office and explain in detail what their responsibility is and how what they do affects you, the people we serve. Hopefully you will find this interesting and informative.

Another way we want to pursue community education is through a program that I have asked one of my patrol sergeants to put together for this upcoming fall. In September, our office will be putting on its first ever "Citizen’s Academy". In this "Academy", we will be teaching up to 15 persons from our community many of the same topics that people would take in a law enforcement academy. Classes will be presented on criminal law and procedure, narcotics, sex offenders, fraud crimes, accident investigations, the history of law enforcement, detention procedures, crime scene investigations, and even some limited familiarization with firearms. All the courses will be presented by the men and women who work within the Sheriff’s Office on a daily basis.

The purpose of this "Academy" will be to hopefully educate those in attendance about the reality of law enforcement aside from the depictions of it in the media. In no way will someone in attendance have all of the requisite knowledge to perform the job of a law enforcement officer, but they will come away from this experience with enough education to fully realize and appreciate some of the things that their local deputy sheriff needs to know to perform his or her job. Then the next time someone mentions something about law enforcement at the dinner table, or at the coffee shop, maybe one of our citizen graduates will be within earshot and able to provide a response based on a real hands-on experience.

We will be officially rolling this program out within the next couple of weeks, and applications will be available at the Sheriff’s Office.

In March’s article, I will discuss the function and importance of one of the primary responsibilities of any Sheriff’s Office, the Detention function. This function is a very vital and essential part of our department, staffed with some vey talented and dedicated men and women.

Respectfully Submitted

Ed Kilgore-Sheriff
Humboldt County

March 2010

April 2010

May 2010

June 2010

July 2010

August 2010

September 2010

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010