Jail bond winning big

Steve Sebelius

Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Boosted by a high-profile campaign and an utter lack of opposition, a $120 million bond issue aimed at building jails, courtrooms and juvenile facilities was passing Tuesday evening by an 2-1 margin.

Supporters welcomed the apparent victory, saying it was evidence that voters embraced the need for more criminal justice facilities in fast-growing Clark County.

"We thing it's a big win for the public," said District Attorney Stewart Bell. "It's a win for the future of Clark County."

Bell said officials had done everything they could to make the system more efficient, but needed the bond to continue to keep up with growth.

"The public is satisfied that we're doing the best we can with what we have," Bell said. "We had good, solid, well-thought-out answers to questions by members of the public."

Sheriff Jerry Keller, another proponent of the bond, agreed.

"It (the returns) shows me that the community supports this plan," he said. "This is good for the community, good for the people and bad for the bandits."

Keller said the detention center would have an indirect effect on crime, as there would be more space to hold offenders who are a threat to the community.

"Cops can make arrests based on probable cause, not whether there's room at the inn," he said.

The results may be encouraging for another ballot measure planned by the sheriff. On Nov. 5, Keller will ask for a property tax increase to pay for 450 new officers. He said he would conduct a similar, meet-the-people campaign for that initiative.

Balloting was vastly different in 1993, when Metro Police proposed a three-pronged bond issue to add officers, build new substations and expand the jail. After an anemic, barely noticeable campaign, the trio of measures was soundly defeated.

This time, however, the campaign showed organization and prowess. Backers hired powerhouse R&R Advertising to promote the measure, using radio and television ads and public appearances by Bell, Keller and others. The campaign relied on work done by District Judge Nancy Becker, who headed a commission studying facilities for the entire criminal justice system.

But not everyone was a supporter. UNLV criminal justice Professor Randall Shelden, who has studied jail expansion in Clark County in the past, questioned the need for the bond.

"This will be money that we won't have to spend on badly needed services, especially for those most at-risk to become our future criminals: the children of the poor and near-poor," Shelden said. "What I am saying is that instead of 'getting tough' on crime, we should be 'getting smart.'"

Shelden said anti-drug programs, including the successful Drug Court, more community-oriented policing, quick, non-jail dispositions for nonviolent offenders and alternatives to arresting people are better ways to deal with crime than incarceration.

He cited jail statistics that show 44 percent of people booked on a given day would be released in 48 hours. Perhaps those people didn't need to be in the jail at all, he suggested, and could be handled with a ticket.

Shelden said he supported the aspect of the bond issue that will expand the juvenile justice facility, however.

"The rest is just empire building," he said.