Participating in a ride-along with local law enforcement should be a required activity for every Nevada resident. It could have a profound effect on what you think you know about the men and women to whom we entrust our public safety.

I recently rode along for several hours with a Reno Police Department (RPD) officer. He and his fellow team of cops were just beginning an early morning patrol.

It was a typical day in Reno:

• 256,500 city residents were starting their day: preparing to focus on their own jobs, protect their own families, and maintain their own safety and well-being.

• Meanwhile, approximately 350 RPD officers were preparing to do a job that requires them – every day – to forget about their own families, forget about their own safety, and risk their lives to protect the health, safety, and quality-of-life of all of us: most of whom are complete strangers to them. It sounds like something Jesus would have encouraged us ALL to do … and He did.

My  RPD “chaperone” and I responded to a variety of calls for assistance that morning. He was typical of the officers I’ve ridden along with for years. He was earnest, highly-trained, hardworking, compassionate, and a high-character young man. He loves being a police officer. He loves protecting and helping people, and has high hopes for staying alive and healthy long enough to have a full career with RPD. No doubt his wife and young children also share that hope.  

I learned a wide variety of things during my RPD ride-along, and also on a recent tour of the Washoe County Jail.

• For whatever insane reason, Nevada law does not protect law enforcement officers from violent attacks NEARLY as strongly as it should. In many cases, this crime is not even a felony.

• Our police and deputies receive serious injuries on a regular basis, and the public almost never hears about them. Just two of many recent examples within Washoe County’s law enforcement community include:  one young officer immediately lost all his hearing during a shootout with a criminal who was wanted for sex crimes. Another officer was involved in a shootout with a wanted felon who fired at the officer. The bullet missed his head by only a few inches. 

• Police must perform their jobs with a constant level of awareness that is almost unknown in any other career. Failure to maintain high-level alertness can result in serious injury or loss of life to innocent civilians or to the officers themselves.

One of the stops on my ride-along was observing a group of officers removing a large, illegal vagrant camp. The trail to the camp was narrowed by heavily overgrown bushes. Officers never know what can be lurking there.  

The vagrant campers were not happy about having to leave. One particularly surly man was ignoring RPD commands to move out and had his hand under a blanket covering him. The man could easily have produced a gun or knife almost immediately… but thankfully, he did not.

It was a safe operation. No one was injured, and the officers were soon on their way to answer dozens of more calls during the remainder of their 10-hour shift.

Reno’s homeless population is less than 2% of the total number of city residents, but many law enforcement personnel confirm that they are responsible for almost half of all crime. 

• The majority of our numerous criminal stops on my ride-along day were connected in one way or another with vagrant men and women who are homeless by choice. They expressed no interest in utilizing the abundance of available social services. They only wish to be left alone to parasitically live off the community and find more ways to scam the system and exploit the well-intentioned but detrimental generosity of do-gooders.

• RPD Chief Kathryn Nance has introduced a number of policies that could lead to significant reductions in vagrant-related crime. These include a regulation that allows police to confiscate and write tickets for stolen shopping carts, and another policy that allows repeated illegal campers to be ticketed or arrested.

As my RPD partner and I patrolled downtown Reno neighborhoods, there was visible proof that Chief Nance’s proactive approach toward homeless crime is starting to yield results. There seems to be a downturn in blighted homeless camps and illegally parked RV’s. In turn, this seems to be reducing trash and the overt vagrant presence on Reno’s streets.

During my ride-along, I sensed a positive momentum shift trying to establish a foothold in downtown Reno!

Chief Nance’s policies – and RPD officers’ heroic efforts are giving our city a puncher’s chance to rid itself of the crime, vagrancy, and urban blight that have characterized downtown Reno for too long.

Amazingly, RPD is making this improvement while being absurdly under-staffed, and bucking the headwinds of a wimpish District Attorney, a milquetoast Homeless Court judge, and a Sheriff who’s too concerned about running for re-election to make an urgently-needed addition to the County jail.

Chief Nance and RPD definitely have the desire and ability to get Reno’s unlawful behavior fully under control.  What they do not have is enough officers to get this job done.

RPD has been severely under-staffed for years, and this situation has taken its toll on officers’ morale. Reno’s City Council can remedy this problem and save Reno’s future by simply giving Chief Nance the funding to hire the needed officers. If the Council refuses to do this, the large-scale crime-stopping change that Reno needs will not happen.

You can play a large part in rescuing Reno’s future. Call the RPD today and sign-up for your own ride-along. You’ll see firsthand:

• How wonderful our cops are.
• How hard they’re working for all of us.
• How much RPD needs more officers on patrol.

A ride-along will inspire and motivate you to demand that the City Council give RPD the money they need to finish the job they’ve started. 

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