HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Sgt. Bob Balding, head of the Nye County Sheriff's Office Street Crimes Unit, stands with Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo at a press conference where the success of the U.S. Marshal Service Operation FALCON (Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally) was discussed Friday. Advertisement

The first week of June wasn't a good time for criminals in southern Nevada, particularly if they had a warrant out for their arrest for a felony charge.

From June 3 through 13, the U.S. Marshal Service, in conjunction with other state agencies, including the Nye County Sheriff's Office, conducted Operation FALCON (Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally), arresting 165 wanted criminals.

Southern Nevada includes Clark, Nye, and parts of Lincoln counties. The 165 were just some of the 211 arrested statewide.

On June 11, the sheriff's office Street Crimes Unit partnered with visiting marshals and arrested two of the wanted persons hiding in Pahrump.

Both alleged criminals had District Court warrants issued on them, one for a drug-related crime and the other for theft.

For the Nye County Sheriff's Office, the arrests have far more significance than simply getting more criminals off the streets.

The sheriff's office cooperative efforts with the U.S. Marshal Service's Nevada task force (the Nevada Fugitive Investigative Strike Team, or Nevada FIST) was a demonstration of the long strides Nye County has made with surrounding and federal law enforcement agencies.

"When I first became sheriff, the relationship we had with other agencies within Nevada was strained," Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo said during a press conference held Friday. "The cooperation with federal agencies was also strained. So I actually had to meet with these individuals and build up a respect for one another."

That was back in 2003, when Nye County didn't have the best reputation or communication with surrounding and federal agencies.

"It was a relationship that had to be fostered, and it wasn't necessarily like right the next day," DeMeo said. In addition to monthly breakfast meetings held between Las Vegas agencies and Sheriff DeMeo, Sgt. Bob Balding, head of the unit, also worked on getting Nye County more involved with interagency operations on the federal level.

"Historically, in the culture of the agency, it's a huge leap too and it's a credit to Sgt. Balding as well as the Sheriff as far getting us involved with these tasks force," Capt. Bill Becht explained. "Before, these outside agencies would come in, and never even notify us they were here until after they arrested somebody because there was a lack of respect for our agency."

In the case of agencies over the hump, like the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, it soon became evident more open lines of communication and cooperation were beneficial to both communities.

"It's been a very worthwhile and fruitful relationship," DeMeo said. "And it's assisted us with those that either go to Las Vegas and commit a crime or those that come from Vegas to Pahrump and commit a crime. We've been able to identify those individuals very quickly."

Meanwhile, Balding was improving the sheriff's office reputation by improving on its program with the unit, particularly when it came to non-compliant sex offenders.

As part of the unit, Balding's tasks include conducting personal verification of where sex offenders are located (by personally visiting their registered address) and searching out criminals with outstanding warrants.

Three years ago, when he first became sheriff, DeMeo said this was no easy task.

"When I first came into office, we actually had sex offenders that were registered in closed hotels, post office boxes, we had so many people out of compliance in Nye County it was sad," DeMeo said. "And we didn't make the proper notification. And since that time, with the cooperation of the area commanders and the street crimes unit...we have been on top of those people. The actual non-compliance has shrunk quite a bit, and Sgt. Bob Balding is responsible for that because he goes out and does the actual verifications."

Balding was also instrumental in helping improve the relationship between the sheriff's office and federal agencies.

He was the one who got the sheriff's office involved in the FALCON operation for the first time in 2005.

"Bob has been a point of contact and a spearhead for the Nye County Sheriff's Office all three of those years," Becht said. "It dovetails into his regular work with the sexual offenders compliance checks as well as he routinely goes out and pulls warrants and goes out looking for offenders we have warrants on or federal offenders who have warrants out."

And just like Vegas, a more cooperative relationship had symbiotic benefits.

"The U.S. Marshal was out here a while ago and a couple years ago, before we started getting actively involved every year, they were out here just looking at the landscape was in Pahrump Valley," DeMeo said. "They were kind of amazed that we had so many people that they were looking for in Las Vegas actually living out here now."

Since then, the sheriff's office has played an active role in assisting with annual FALCON operations as well as other federal and state interagency investigations.

"We actually have a lot more input and whatever we need from those federal agencies they've been willing to assist us," DeMeo said. "Believe me, if the FBI, the ATF or any of these other agencies come into Nye County they trust us to give us notification. That was never happening in the past."

"We now participate and are respected enough in the community to do the work," said Becht.