Thursday, April 11, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
An old committee is being rejuvenated to fight new crime.
Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa announced at a news conference Wednesday at the Sawyer State Office Building the re-formation of the Nevada Crime Prevention Association.
The association has opened offices in Las Vegas, Carson City and Ely aimed at providing technical assistance to police to fight crime, she said.
The committee was formed in 1984 but disbanded in 1987 "when law enforcement budgets tightened to the point where crime prevention was pushed aside," Del Papa said.
Despite cutbacks, Del Papa said, "We have to be innovative."
With the new program, "across the state, things are happening," she said. "People are reaching out by getting to know their neighbors and by taking individual and collective action against crime. Citizens are helping law enforcement to reduce crime in their neighborhoods and prevent victimization. Citizens will be empowered to act and band together."
Clark County Sheriff Jerry Keller said after the news conference that even though he believes Metro Police need more officers, "that's enforcement. This program is where prevention is, so citizens can be involved."
"If we could keep you from being robbed by letting you know about the Neighborhood Watch program," he said, "or that you should cut the shrubbery around a window where a criminal can hide, that's how you fight crime. This is the true fighter of crime -- prevention. Hiring new cops is the enforcement."
Keller pointed out a murder Wednesday of a woman whose son was charged with stabbing her.
"We had another parent killed by her son," Keller said. "We have to prevent these crimes from happening and rekindle the efforts of prevention."
District Attorney Stewart Bell, a member of the committee's board, said crime has to be fought "on all fronts, on the apprehension front and the prevention front."
Besides representatives from Metro, the district attorney and attorney general, the board of directors includes members from businesses and Nellis Air Force Base.
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