New sheriff says he'll crack down on Burning Man crime

Burners, beware. There's a new sheriff in Pershing County, and he intends to crack down on crime at this year's event in the Black Rock Desert.

"We don't have the personnel to issue citations to 70,000 naked people on the playa, but we will be upholding the law to the best of our ability," said Jerry Allen, a 39-year-old former deputy who replaced former Pershing County Sheriff Richard Machado in January.

Allen said he will be enforcing all laws outside of restrictions on nudity while he and his deputies work at Burning Man.

"Burning Man brings nothing to Pershing County except for heartache," Allen said.

Former sheriff Machado had a relatively Burner-friendly approach, according to many Burner accounts of law enforcement protocol in recent years. He hired retired officers for Burning Man patrols, according to Allen. A U.S. Bureau of Land Management operational assessment of the 2014 event also said Machado halted the prosecution of marijuana possession charges. Additionally, he was a proponent of community policing, the assessment stated.

Dale Weber, a leader in the Reno Burning Man community, said his only encounter with law enforcement at Burning Man last year was "playful and friendly."

"They hung out at the art car with us, and they took goofy pictures with us; they even let the ladies pose and pretended they were frisking them for a photo," Weber said. "They even let us try on one of the bullet-proof vests."

Allen, a 36-year resident of Pershing County, is based out of Lovelock, a town one-tenth the size of Burning Man's temporary population that is three hours from the playa.

"They're infamous for asking what do you do the rest of the 360 days of the year," Allen said of Burning Man's organizers.

The bucolic, conservative town shares its namesake with the nearby men's medium-security prison and a World War II gunnery range, and the general population is uncomfortable with what goes on at Burning Man, especially considering children are out there, Allen said.

"We don't change the laws when Burning Man comes to town," Allen said.

Burning Man organizers said they are not concerned by Allen's staunch approach because far fewer Burners are breaking laws than Allen suspects.

"We've been working with (Allen) since his election, and he's been involved with all of the large coordination efforts," said Burning Man spokesman Jim Graham. "It's an ongoing process on education, but he hasn't been out there for a few years, so he hasn't seen the progress we've made in recent years."

To Burning Man organizers, the low number of arrests in recent years indicates an increase in law-abiding Burners attending the weeklong event.

Last year, Pershing County Sheriff's Office and U.S. Bureau of Land Management agents, who also oversee law enforcement at the event, arrested only a handful of people.

A major crimes team consisting of both county-contracted officers and federal agents charged one individual with sexual assault, four with narcotic violations, one with domestic violence and two with trespassing, according to a BLM operational assessment of the 2014 event.

But the BLM's assessment, published earlier this year, hints that Allen's suspicions that crimes outnumber arrests are not entirely unfounded. The assessment states:

"Throughout the event, threshold levels of drug possession for adoption of a case for prosecution by PCSO (Pershing County Sheriff's Office) were unclear and inconsistent. Early in the event, it was clearly established any cases involving the possession of marijuana would not be adopted by PCSO for prosecution. For all other controlled substances, the thresholds changed throughout the event. Conversely, threshold levels for federal prosecution were established well in advance of the event and provided in writing by the U.S. Attorney's Office."

The BLM assessment, however, praised Machado in the same section:

"The success of BLM and Pershing County integration is largely attributed to PCSO Sheriff Richard Machado's vision and leadership. ... Sheriff Machado understood the value and efficiency of law enforcement integration."

While the BLM assessment stated that no further law enforcement measures were needed on the BLM's behalf, it noted that the sheriff's deputies needed to train with the BLM's staff to ensure that the agencies were on the same page during enforcement.

Allen, who said that the hiring of retirees likely contributed to the low number of arrests last year and in years past, said enlisting his active-duty deputies and other active-duty officers would ensure that law enforcement officers are trained and prepared to take the appropriate actions needed to make Burning Man safe and secure.

The last time he worked the event, four years ago, was the last time the playa had active-duty officers, he said, recalling about three dozen arrests that year.

He also is increasing the number of officers at the Burn this year to 31, four more than last year, he said.

Were Burning Man to provide more funding to the county, Allen would also hire more officers, 100 more to be specific.

"Burning Man taxes this county. We don't have the services to provide them. Pretty much everything they buy, they buy outside," Allen said. "I'm not saying we need to make gobs and gobs of money. I'm glad they can bring economic interest to Nevada, but they leave Pershing County high and dry."

The Burning Man population-based stipend that the organization grants to Pershing County each year does not cover the county's troubles, Allen said.

Last year, Pershing County received $240,000, Burning Man officials said, of which $196,000 went toward covering the costs of the sheriff's office's time and resources invested in Burning Man. Burning Man will be allotting about the same amount of money this year.

Burning Man also pays for the cost of prosecuting felony crimes related to the event, said Graham, the Burning Man spokesman. Additionally, the organization provides trailers, power, water, pumping, showers, toilets, radios, meals and fuel for the sheriff's office on the playa.

Washoe County will receive $108,000 to send eight law enforcement officers to the event, along with additional services, Graham said.

While Allen believes that the stipends are unbalanced, considering the services that Pershing County provides and Washoe County does not, Burning Man said the comparison itself was unfair.

"The deputies of each county get paid different amounts year-round due to cost of living, union rules, etc. This differential has nothing to do with Burning Man. The fact that each county pays its deputies different amounts is not a Burning Man issue," Graham said. "Comparing the contracts is apples and oranges for other reasons also. Some officers only work for a day, others for two weeks. Some work overtime; some don't."

Despite his gripes with Burning Man and some of the activities that go on at the event, Allen said he is hopeful for a peaceful week at Burning Man.

"The morale is still high. We want to go out there and provide a service to visitors to Pershing County," Allen said.

If Burners are not doing anything wrong, they should be OK when it comes to run-ins with law enforcement, Allen said — a thought reiterated by veteran Burner Weber.

"Personally, I don't really have any problems with them because I am not doing anything wrong," Weber said. "Don't put yourself in a position to attract undue attention from law enforcement. Don't give them reason to raise the hairs on their backs. Most of them are very reasonable, and if you are going to give them a hard time, they're going to give you a harder time."