Deputy Wheeler pinned as Carson City motorcycle officer

With the pinning of a new motorcycle officer Friday, Sheriff Ken Furlong hopes this brings the department closer to being able to create a division strictly focused on traffic control in Carson City.

Deputy Wayne Wheeler was pinned as a new motors deputy Friday at the Sheriff’s Office by his wife Sabrina. The Sheriff, Wheeler’s family and several other deputies were there as Furlong handed Sabrina the pin to put onto Wheeler’s uniform that signifies he’s part of the Motors Unit.

Wheeler is a veteran of the motors program, though he hasn’t been a motor deputy for several years. At the pinning, Undersheriff Steve Albertsen joked with Wheeler about his first motor competition and how far Wheeler has come as a motor deputy.

Also at the pinning ceremony, Furlong talked about plans to work towards a traffic division within the patrol unit, in conjunction with the new school resource officer program. Because the department will be pulling three current patrol deputies for the resource officer program, it will need to train many more deputies from the detention facility to be able to put them onto the street to fill in the gap. Furlong hopes after that the department can move traffic enforcement to a top priority, and it can create a traffic only division that hopefully frees up some calls for service for the patrol deputies.

“In this town, with the size of this community, we need a stand-alone traffic unit,” Furlong said. “We need one that is sufficiently mobile to fit the needs of the community.”

Furlong said the new resource officers will be chosen early next week.