Sheriff's office radio upgrade complete

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office recently completed their upgrade to digital hand-held radios thanks to a money-saving purchase made possible by funds provided by the Douglas County Sheriff's Advisory Council.

According to Douglas County Sheriff Ron Pierini, "both federal and state mandates require that all of our radios be digital by 2008," Douglas County Sheriff Ron Pierini said. "We were about 20 radios short and did not have the funds to make the purchase.

"One of our primary vendors had a short-window sale in which these radios were offered for 50 percent off. The Sheriff's Advisory Council came through with full funding which allowed us to save over $15,000."

The new radios will now allow all Sheriff's Reserve Deputies to maintain radio communication while on duty at special events.

"Citizens do not know the difference between reserve deputies and full-time deputies," Pierini said. "So often our reserve deputies are faced with situations while on duty that require they be able to respond the same as a regular deputy. Without these additional radios that would not have been possible after the new mandates came into effect."

The Douglas County Sheriff's Advisory Council is a non-profit service organization founded to raise funds for extraordinary expenses of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

The funds raised go toward continuing education and training for personnel, technological resources and supplemental equipment required by the sheriff's office.

While most of the expenditures are a result of carefully researched presentations by command officers, the organization's flexibility also allows for quick-decision purchases such as the radios.

Since the Council's first organizational meeting in May 2004, the group has raised money to fund items, such as the digital radios mentioned above, that are not covered in the annual budget.

Some examples are a hand-held night vision thermal imager unit, Tactical body armor to protect SWAT officers from high caliber rifle bullets and small explosions, a Child Identification System used to electronically fingerprint and photograph children during community events, a number of defensive training items, computer and software for the Tri-Net Taskforce officer, a new tactical vehicle and associated equipment for the SWAT Team and numerous other items.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Advisory Council is constantly raising funds for a number of other projects and members encourage anyone to help by contributing to the Douglas County Sheriff's Council (Federal EIN 20-1308918). Checks should be mailed to Douglas County Sheriff's Council, P.O. Box 1002, Minden, NV, 89423. Contributions are 100 percent deductible.

For further information on the council, call Carl Malkmus, Chairman at 782-4931.