Carson City (NV) Sheriff’s Office

The Challenge

The Carson City Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) is not just a Lexipol customer; it played a key role in bringing Lexipol to the state of Nevada in 2011. But the journey started much earlier.

“Before Lexipol, we wrote our policies in house,” says Chief Deputy Ray Saylo. “We would spend hours, days, researching particular subjects, looking at other agencies’ policies. It was a difficult and tedious process.”

In addition, training on policy was lacking. “We would bring up Gordon Graham’s Today’s Tip in briefing,” Saylo says. “Other than that, it was whatever state law required policy-wise—use of force, firearms, etc.” But agency administrators had identified policy training as a high priority, so the agency was looking for a solution.

The Solution

Around 2008, Saylo became involved with an effort led by the Nevada Public Agency Insurance Pool to draft statewide policies. He also attended some seminars by Lexipol co-founder Gordon Graham.

Following one of those seminars, a group of Nevada police chiefs and sheriffs started the process to bring Lexipol to Nevada. Saylo served on one of several committees that adapted Lexipol master content to the specific needs of the state. As a full-time administrator, he implemented Lexipol at CCSOand continues to work on policy in a part-time capacity today.

Lexipol quickly became an essential part of the CCSO’s unique approach to policy and related training. “We hit our policies very strong,” Saylo says. “I’ve worked for five sheriffs, and this particular administration is more concerned about policy than any of the others I’ve worked for. When we issue policy updates, Lexipol enables me to track the officers to ensure they’re all acknowledging the updates. And we issue 15 Daily Training Bulletins each month.”

Saylo also creates a monthly policy briefing on critical topics and policy is integrated into all in-service trainings. “They’re getting it from four different directions,” he says.

The Results

From daily training to evaluation to in-the-field access to policy content, Lexipol has helped the CCSObuild an environment in which policy is not a static document to be referenced occasionally, but rather permeates the entire culture.

Today, the agency is so focused on policy that Sheriff Ken Furlong recently made being up-to-date on Daily Training Bulletins (DTBs) a requirement for any employee to receive an “excellent” rating on their evaluation.

“Everyone enjoys the DTBs,” Saylo says. “And the mobile app is great. Before, even when we’d digitized our manual, you had to come into the office to use it because it wasn’t available online. Our sergeants and above love the Lexipol mobile app because they can bring up the policy on their handheld device, and answer the question right there.”