chief of police

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - When the City formed in 1965 it was incorporated as a general law city for the purpose of having more local control over public services such as police, fire, and snow removal.

Now there is discussion about changing to a charter city. During their March 5 meeting, Councilmember Cody Bass asked that this subject come forward at a future meeting and Councilmembers Jason Collin and Devin Middlebrook said they were interested in learning more about what the differences are between the two, and what it would mean to South Lake Tahoe to switch.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - At their May 1 meeting, the South Lake Tahoe City Council gave direction to the City Attorney's office to draft ordinances to regulate sales, cultivation and distribution of medical and adult-use cannabis.

Consensus at that meeting was to allow for two micro-businesses, two retail businesses, two cultivation businesses up to 5,000 square feet and unlimited testing labs.

At that same meeting, the Council assigned councilmembers Austin Sass and Brooke Laine to an ordinance sub-comittee and they have worked on the ordinance will be voted on Tuesday.

The last few months have been some of the most difficult for our City Council, for our City and for our community. Similar to the national conversation, with immediate access to social media in many forms, controversial opinion pieces go immediately out to the public, even before the accused have an opportunity to hear the allegations. Soon after, public comment and “opinion” on the opinion begins with little interest in whether there is truth.

The doors opened at all seven schools in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District Monday, welcoming students back after their summer vacations.

At Tahoe Valley Elementary, not only were the doors opened, but the red carpet was rolled out, literally. Staff and members of the California Highway Patrol greeted students as they entered the school with fanfare and balloon in celebration of their return.

Not only did the students enjoy the processional, but parents, staff and officers did as well.

South Lake Tahoe Police Chief Brian Uhler has written the following in response to an opinion piece written by South Tahoe High junior Noah Jackson that was posted on South Tahoe Now June 9 concerning massage parlors.

Crime statistics for South Lake Tahoe, Placerville and the unincorporated area of El Dorado County have been released for 2015, and while some areas have seen a decrease in some types of crime, others have seen some significant changes between 2014 and 2015.

Join community members on Wednesday, June 24 at the next 'Tahoe Talks' session when the topic will be "Law Enforcement Strategies to Improve Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety."

Someone from the South Lake Tahoe Police Department will be on hand to provide discussion and answer questions after the viewing of a short webinar produced by the Association of Pedestrians and Bicyclists.

Webinar presenters:
Jim Curtin, City of Seattle Department of Transportation
Brian Dougherty, City of Seattle Department of Transportation

Property Crime: Several South Lake Tahoe businesses were disrupted over the past three months (June/July/August) by 19 different smash and grab commercial burglaries. Typically, these burglaries are occurring in the early morning hours (between 3am-9am. The offender(s) have broken windows or glass doors to gain access to these businesses across town. The crimes have not been centralized in any one particular area, although several have occurred in the area of the Y and some of the same businesses have been victimized more than once.

South Tahoe Now sent a questionnaire out to all of the candidates for Douglas County Sheriff. We will be posting them in the order received. This is the second of three to be received.

1. What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department?

Since as far back as he could remember, Les Lovell wanted to be a law enforcement officer.
The notions of keeping peace and preserving justice were always on his radar and for 30-plus years, the now-retired senior lieutenant for the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office Lake Tahoe Branch fulfilled his commitment.