Message of the Week 12/19/2025

Message of the week 12/19/2025

As 2025 comes to a close, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office is preparing its annual report, which will include crime data from the last four years. The period covered in the crime data report spans from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2025.

There have been many inquiries about where the data is obtained from and how it is reported. The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office reports the data directly from our report management system to the State of Nevada. The State of Nevada reports that data to the Federal Government. The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office end-of-year report and crime data will be based on the State data for several reasons:

State Statistics:

-Use state statutes to define crimes.

-Reflect how crimes are charged and prosecuted under state law.

-Can include state-specific offenses not recognized at the federal level.

-Counting rules may differ (e.g., how multiple offenses in one incident are handled).

Federal Statistics:

-Use standardized national definitions so states can be compared.

-Not tied to how a crime is charged locally.

-Under UCR, only the most serious offense in an incident was counted (“Hierarchy Rule”).

-NIBRS counts all offenses in an incident, similar to many state systems.

If we reported crime data using the Federal reporting system, our numbers would be skewed (heavily in our favor), and they do not give an accurate reflection of the crime trends in our community. This is because of the generalization of crimes in the Federal reporting system. It makes it easier to compare States to one another, as our crime definitions are different.

State Crime Stats Are Best For:

Operational policing decisions.

Legislative testimony at the state level.

Grant applications requiring state-verified data.

Explaining crime trends to local communities.

Federal Crime Stats Are Best For:

National comparisons.

Academic research.

Federal policy discussions.

Media stories comparing states or regions.

The bottom line is that State statistics are far more accurate and detailed than Federal statistics.

Crime has been reduced in Lyon County across nearly all statistical categories. That statement is supported by the data, which will be included in our year-end report released in early January.

No, there isn’t a vast conspiracy to change the report types to reduce the crime numbers; no, we are not changing the reports to reflect positively on the agency. The men and women of the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, both sworn and non-sworn, are carrying out their mission to protect and serve, and doing it better than ever!

Merry Christmas,

Sheriff Brad Pope