Mark Twain Elementary School student Avery Meznarich, center, accompanied by her mother to the left, Ashley Meznarich, is recognized by Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong, far left, and Mayor Lori Bagwell, far right, for assisting the sheriff’s office in apprehending a warranted sex offender by providing information that helped lead to the arrest of a sex offender.
Photo by Scott Neuffer.
Carson City School District
Thursday, August 18, 2022
A Carson City School District student was honored by Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong on Thursday as part of the national “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign during the Board of Supervisors meeting.
Avery Meznarich, fourth grader at Mark Twain Elementary School, was recognized for providing excellent intelligence and photographs to the sheriff’s office, which helped apprehend a warranted sex offender from California who suspiciously was lurking on Aug. 6 at a park in Carson City.
Avery was accompanied by her mother Ashley Meznarich, a first-grade teacher also at Mark Twain Elementary, and was awarded a hero’s certificate along with a custom badge and keychain from the sheriff’s office and some lapel pens from Mayor Lori Bagwell. Students in Avery’s and Ashley’s classes at Mark Twain Elementary were able to watch the awards presentation via the LIVE feed from YouTube in Mrs. Meznarich’s classroom.
According to Furlong, in this particular case, Avery’s astute observations and her immediacy of sharing photos and information with dispatch helped the Carson City Sheriff’s Office move quickly and remove the immediate threat.
"If You See Something, Say Something" is a national campaign that raises public awareness of the indicators of terrorism and terrorism-related crime, as well as the importance of reporting suspicious activity to state and local law enforcement.
In July 2010, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security launched the campaign in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice's Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting initiative, with the goal of training state and local law enforcement to recognize behaviors and indicators of terrorism and terrorism-related crime. The initiative standardized how observations were documented and analyzed. It also ensured reports were shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces for investigation and with state Fusion Centers for analysis.
