Jan 2026 - Goodbye To A Legend

I would like to open this article, as I usually do with the first magazine of the year, hoping that
our membership had an amazing holiday season. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, to New
Year’s, I always pray that our officers enjoy their time with family and friends. This article is
going to center around one of the men who has made the LVPPA what they are today, Bryan
Yant. Of course, I will talk about the contributions Bryan has made to this organization and our
members, but first, a little history of my guy Bryan and me.
Both of us started as police officers around the same time. Our academies were roughly three
months apart, so we were in the academy building on Mojave together at the same time. After
we graduated, both of us ended up back together working at NWAC. Working together on
patrol, having a great time on some amazing squads, was where I really became fortunate
enough to learn about Bryan. Bryan is one of the most genuine, and amazingly dedicated – with
a giant touch of OCD – guys I have ever known. There is nothing you could ask him to do that he
would turn down. If someone was in need, Bryan would drop whatever he was doing and help.
Whether it was moving, grabbing something for you from the store, or helping you chip away
1800 square feet of tile, and exposing himself to a lifetime full of tile dust, Bryan would be
there. From patrol, we both went on to work in the Problem-Solving Unit, now known as a Flex
Team. It was here that we learned how to expand our abilities as investigators. Doing search
warrants, arrest warrants, long-term investigations, and more, we had an amazing time. We
were not done working together there though. Both of us tested for and later transferred to the
Narcotics section. Bryan earned the nickname, which all of us get in a unit like narcotics, Sh!tlist!
The story on how he was given that name is a story for another time, or probably at his
retirement party outside of LVMPD. But, yet again, we followed each other to another
assignment. Around the time our brothers in law enforcement Igor and Beck were killed, Bryan
transferred to the PPA to represent and fight for our officers. I joined him about four months
later at the PPA where our bromance was rekindled! Since 2014, Bryan and I, along with our
other brothers and staff at the PPA, have worked on changing the way your police union
represents our officers. Bryan took the lead in being our use of force expert. Not only because
he was involved in three officer-involved shootings himself, but he always cared for our officers
who found themselves engaged in a deadly force incident and knew what they were going
through and better yet, he knew how to get them through it. I have seen no one better from
start to finish than Bryan at a shooting scene/use of force. Between the initial shooting scene,
the preparation for the CIRT interview, the diligent work leading up to the Use of Force Board,
or the post-board process, no one, and I mean no one, was better than Bryan. Although I have
never admitted this, I know, with all the things I have been able to accomplish here at the PPA,
none of it holds a candle to Bryan and his body of work. We are not who we are today without
having Bryan on this team and leading us to where we are today. To say thank you to my friend
Bryan wouldn’t be enough. He knows how much I appreciate him. For me to say how much this
place will miss him, wouldn’t be enough. You cannot put into words what the loss of a man like
Bryan Yant will have on our organization. I know he has trained up Bob, and Chad to step in, but
they won’t be Bryan. As the leader of the LVPPA, thank you Bryan for the years of service to our
membership. Your efforts and commitment will last long after you retire, and your work will
carry on through the many officers you have helped, and with the men who are still here, on the
E-board, doing the work you showed them how to do. To my friend B, I am sad to see you go,
but I am so happy to have been able to share 25 years of this police life together with you. I love
you, my brother, and I will see you on the golf course as we play and hit some houses with
errant drives every Monday morning. Congratulations on one of the finest careers an officer can
have and enjoy retirement brother.

‍