Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong said Carson City and Lyon and Douglas counties will use a $350,000 grant from the Office of Criminal Justice Assistance to create a regional gang initiative.
Furlong said the gang issues in the three counties have been a concern for some time. He says officers are often doing double duty by serving on patrol and working on gang enforcement.
He says they also face jurisdictional boundaries and that creating a three-county team will help with information sharing and cooperation.
"The grant acknowledges that gangs do not recognize our county lines. They often live, function and create discord in many different areas at the same time. By their nature, they are often transient and move to areas with the least gang enforcement presence," he said in a news release. "This characteristic requires intense multi-agency cooperation and communications."
In July 2007, the Carson City Sheriff's Office increased staffing to combat street level narcotics. These two deputy positions were newly funded.
In 2008, the two man team was expanded to include two additional full time gang enforcement officers and a supervisor.
Carson City received a grant for $29,775 to establish the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program. The program allows states and local governments to support crime prevention activities.
Funds will be used for prevention education classes for students in grades K-12, parents and agency personnel. The main program will be DARE.
The Carson City police department will host four community outreach events including a Cops and Kids Spaghetti Dinner, Safety Fair, National Night Out, Halloween Safety, Red Ribbon Campaign, and child ID campaigns.