Last week, Sheriff Jerry Allen asked Pershing County leaders to support his opposition to the state’s red flag law. He hopes to join a lawsuit blocking AB 291 that requires law enforcement to seize firearms from those considered by a judge to be possible threats to themselves or others.
“You may see that I have joined on but I have been advised that I cannot independently sue anything in my capacity as the sheriff,” Allen told the county commission. “Although I have not officially joined, I’m sure you’ll see me there because I saw it (media) there yesterday when I went to the meeting. I was surprised when I walked into the meeting that I was a part of that. However, I think it’s more appropriate for the legislative body of the county (to respond).”
Allen later clarified that he had attended a meeting with other sheriffs and law enforcement officers to check with the advocacy group that had filed the lawsuit to block the red flag law.
“We were attempting to gather further information regarding NevadansCAN and find out what the process has been and will be from this point forward,” he said in an email on Saturday.
On December 4, the group called NevadansCAN filed the lawsuit in First Judicial District Court to block the red flag law that instructs law enforcement to seize firearms owned by anyone a judge considers a potential threat. The group was seeking an injunction and declaratory relief to stop enforcement of the state “gun grab” law that was set to go into effect earlier this month.
The lawsuit contends the law allows allegations of possible violent behavior, presented in court by family members or others, to be the sole basis for the unconstitutional seizure of firearms. Sheriff Allen would like county leaders to show they are on board with his support of the lawsuit.
“In my capacity as sheriff, I can’t sign on without the support of the county,” Allen said. “I would appreciate it if the commissioners could take a look at this (lawsuit) and maybe at the next meeting we could discuss it and see if there’s enough support from the commissioners.”
According to the Elko Daily Free Press, a December 20 press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office announced Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Allen was the first sheriff in Nevada to join the NevadansCAN (Citizens Action Network) lawsuit against the red flag law. The story also says county commissions in Elko, Douglas, Nye and Lyon counties had passed “second amendment sanctuary” resolutions to block the red flag law and other gun control laws.
Sheriff Jerry Allen would like Pershing County to join the list of sanctuary counties.
“I would and I have attempted to assist with Pershing County becoming a 2nd Amendment sanctuary County,” he said in the email. “The Board has not moved to do so.”
Allen has indicated before he does not want to enforce gun control laws that he believes violate the rights of his constituents. This time, he wants county leaders to take a stand on the issue.
“I would like the Board to take a stance to support the lawsuit filed by NevadansCAN and oppose any attempt by any government entity from circumventing the due process rights of any person to seize firearms,” he said in the email. “I further request the Board to support my intention to support the lawsuit as well.”
Allen further clarified why he needs the county commission’s support before joining the lawsuit.
“I would join this lawsuit. That is why I brought it to the Board’s attention,” he said. “To join in my official capacity, by law, the Board has to approve since they are the legislative branch and in charge of the funding.”
911 SYSTEM
Allen notified county leaders that the county’s 911 system is no longer reliable and that a system update is needed. The system has crashed repeatedly forcing local emergency calls to be handled by other law enforcement agencies such as the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department.
“We’ve had issues with our 911 system. In the last calendar year, that we could determine, our system has crashed 38 times,” he told the commission last week. “As recently as Saturday night into Sunday morning, we had to divert all of our 911 calls to Humboldt County, from approximately nine o’clock on Saturday night until about 4:30 on Sunday morning.”
The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office is the last agency still using an obsolete system, he said.
“Apparently we are the last ones using the current system which is outdated by three or four years but the new system is going to be quite expensive,” Allen said. “Over the five years, it’s going to be a quarter million dollar price tag...They’re talking about $4,120 a month just for the equipment. In addition, if there’s any wireless 911 calls, those are 12 cents per minute.”
The new 911 system would provide a backup system with two “full” dispatch consoles that are “mirror images of each other.” It could handle the high number of 911 calls received during major emergencies without crashing as the current system has done repeatedly, Allen said.
“When we get crashes on the interstate and we field 15 to 20 calls at a time, right now our laptop is crashing when we get that volume of calls,” he explained. “AT&T has guaranteed us that if our 911 system were to go down in the office, we could take the new laptop to the community center, hook it up to the Internet and we could still route our own 911 calls...It (the laptop) would also serve us at Burning Man. We could field 911 calls straight from the playa.”
The new AT&T system would include a “redundant” double T-1 loop, Allen said. He would prefer a new system in Lovelock but a remote system in Reno or elsewhere would be half the price.
“Obviously, it’s got to be what we can afford, as well,” he said. “Our system right now is not going to hold. It’s at that point. This was discussed last summer as well. That’s where this quote comes from is July of 2019 and he said substantially the quote will not change.”
For some reason, AT&T is not including the local 911 surcharge on all local phone bills so the county is not receiving the revenues that could help it pay for a new county-wide 911 system.
“Trust me, if there was another option out there other than AT&T, I would definitely take another option but we’re stuck with AT&T as our only provider out here for that kind of service,” Allen said. “I have looked at other vendors, the problem is we would still have to use AT&T lines.”
Allen was asked to “crunch the numbers” with County Auditor Rene Childs to determine the monthly costs and how the new 911 system could be subsidized in the current budget cycle.
“It would have to come out of the capital improvement/building fund area because the tech fees are statute based and are restricted,” Childs said. “We can’t touch those.”
NEW SHERIFF’S
DEPUTIES
Two new hires are on board at the sheriff’s office including Deputy John Rogers and Deputy Robert Abernathy, Allen said. That brings his law enforcement staff to nearly full capacity.
“John Rogers has maintained his certification and he has been a reserve for us so not a whole lot of training is needed to get him back on the streets,” Allen said. “He’s assigned to Grass Valley so we are back up to two deputies up in the north county area which is really nice for us.”
Abernathy is working in the jail and is undergoing the FTO (Field Training Officer) program.
“He’s worked out at Burning Man for us for the last five years so he knows some of the procedures but there’s a large difference between working with people that have already been convicted and working with those that are pre-conviction. There’s a big learning curve.”
A sheriff’s deputy currently on medical leave may soon be available for full patrol duties.
“I do have a report from the state regarding one of my employees on medical leave,” Allen said. “We’ll see, hopefully by the end of the week, whether he is going to be coming back. I’m hopeful and then that will put me at full staffing for what I’m budgeted for.”
