Meet the Candidates: MV Constable

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

For the first time in many years, Moapa Valley residents will be choosing a new Constable in the upcoming election. Current Moapa Valley Constable Leon Frei, who has served the community well for more than two decades, is retiring this year. This has opened the field for local candidates to run for the position.

Four have filed including Vernon Dimick, Bret Empey, Mark Harding and Jacob Jensen. Those four will be narrowed to two candidates in the June 14 Primary Election. The final two will have a runoff in the general election in November.

The duties of the Constable are essential, though they are largely unseen and unknown by most of the population. The Constable’s job in the community is to work with the local court to officially serve various legal paperwork to parties in a dispute or a case. That can include eviction notices, divorce documents, child custody papers, and a host of other civil matters.

It is not required that the Constable be a police officer. Though in cities and larger towns there is a statutory requirement that they be certified in Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). That certification is not required in rural communities like Moapa Valley.

Recently, the Progress interviewed each of the four candidates in the Moapa Valley race to talk about their background and how they are qualified to serve as the Constable in the community. Here is what we learned.

Vernon Dimick
Vernon Dimick is a recently retired Las Vegas firefighter where he worked for 24 years. Before that he worked for the Overton Power District as a meter reader. He ran for six years as a volunteer firefighter in Moapa Valley during that time.

Dimick sees the role of Constable as a way to serve his hometown community. “As much as I love this community and the people here, I just see this as an ideal way to stay involved,” Dimick said.
Dimick has a wealth of experience from throughout his career that feels has prepared him for work as Constable.

“Working as a firefighter, both here in the valley and in the city, has taught me how to work with the public in various stressful situations,” Dimick said. “You kind of get a feel for going to different locations, not being sure what you will find behind the door in a medical call, and staying aware of your surroundings and being safe. I think those are good skills for the Constable work.”

This kind of applicable experience even dates back to Dimick’s days working for Overton Power.
“I was the one who went out and disconnected power on people who had not paid their bills,” Dimick said. “Those are pretty emotional times for people. So I kind of got a taste of what it would be like to be a Constable doing that.”

Dimick suggests that his variety of experience might be a strength he brings as a candidate. “I think that my experience has been seeing the public in a little different light than maybe what a police officer would,” Dimick said. “It is a little different approach that I think would go well in the Constable’s role.”

Bret Empey
Bret Empey talked to The Progress while on a duty cycle fighting a wildfire in New Mexico. He was sent there to assist as a volunteer from the Moapa Valley Fire District.

Empey has stayed active with the fire district since his retirement, in December of 2020, from a 30 year career with Metropolitan Police Department. He spent the last 13 years of that career as Sergeant of the Northeast Resident Section in Overton.

Empey spent about six months after retirement, serving in the Constable’s office in Las Vegas. There he saw an opportunity for himself to serve as Constable in his own hometown.

“From a personal sense, I am having a hard time retiring,” Empey said. “Slowing down that way just doesn’t really seem to be in my nature. So I decided that this might be a good thing to do to stay busy and keep attached to my law enforcement background.”
Serving as Constable in Las Vegas, Empey learned that the role is not the slow-paced administrative job that it once was.

“It has gotten a little more difficult,” Empey said. “I mean, you are serving people with papers summoning them into court. Most people don’t react all that favorably. And that is getting worse and worse.”

Empey acknowledged that dangerous situations don’t come up very often in Moapa Valley. But they do happen. If they do, he feels equipped to deal with them.
“I used to bang doors in Vegas with an entire SWAT team,” Empey said. “But as a Constable you are doing it by yourself. It can be extremely dangerous; especially over the last several years when people have become more violent and less respectful of the law.”

Mark Harding
Former Metro Police Officer Mark Harding retired at the end of last year. He served 11 of his 23 years in the Northeast Resident Section based in Overton.
“When I retired, I thought I might have the time to concentrate on being Constable here,” Harding said. “With the training and experience I have, I felt like it would be a good fit for me and for the citizens out here.”

Harding has been working full-time for the Constable’s office in Las Vegas since February of this year. In doing that, he says that he has seen a different side to the work of a peace officer.
“I actually have seen both sides of these disputes and feel bad for both sides,” Harding said.

For example, in serving eviction notices Harding has seen the destruction done by tenants to a property. “The poor homeowner who realizes that they have to pay so much to bring these properties back up; they are just devastated when they walk through.”

And yet, at the same time, Harding said he has empathized with the tenants being evicted. “They are basically homeless and don’t have anywhere to go,” he said. “It is a hard time right now and people are really struggling.”

In his role as Constable, Harding said that he likes to give some direction to people who are having some of their worst moments. “I try to give them some information on how to proceed from there, where they might be able to get resources and so on,” Harding said.

Whether he is elected to the Constable position or not, Harding offered himself as resource to people who are struggling. “If there is anybody who has questions about the civil process; whether it be evictions or divorce papers or anything; please don’t hesitate to contact me,” he said.

Jacob Jensen
Moapa Valley resident Jacob Jensen works as a superintendent for Eagle View Construction in Moapa. The company spent many years doing contract work for NV Energy at Reid Gardner Power Station. After the plant closed, Eagle View has been contracted to manage the ongoing environmental mitigation and cleanup of the site.

Jensen said that he filed as a candidate with a strong desire to serve the community.
“The Constable’s race was the best way I could serve in given my circumstances,” Jensen said.
Jensen notes that he has a Concealed Carry permit and is an NRA-certified range safety officer.
As a long-time civilian resident of Moapa Valley, Jensen believes that he can operate in the Constable’s role with a “healthy respect for people in the community.”

“I am going to be serving them papers or documents at a moment that is obviously not a great moment for them,” Jensen said. “I think that, being a fellow civilian, I would have the ability to be friendly and treat people like they are people and part of the community.”

Such empathy might not come quite so easily for someone who has served a career in law enforcement, Jensen said.
“Cops can sometimes get kind of callous toward civilians,” Jensen said. “That is what sets me apart, I think. I am going to go into this and treat people as fellow residents. They are just regular people who may have made some bad choices. I am just there to serve papers not to rule over them in some kind of enforcement position.”

Jensen and his wife, Karen, have three children who attend public schools in Moapa Valley: one at MVHS, one at Mack Lyon Middle School and one at Bowler Elementary.