Sheriff asks voters to OK measure to add more cops

Cathy Scott

Thursday, Sept. 12, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Vowing to keep the streets of Las Vegas safe, Clark County Sheriff Jerry Keller has kicked off his campaign for a ballot measure that would add more cops while increasing property taxes.

Voters on Nov. 5 will decide whether to approve the ballot question that would increase property taxes annually on a $100,000 home in the city by $70 and in the county by $55, or about $6 per month in the city and $5 per month in the county. The measure also calls for 200 more patrol cars for Metro Police.

If the measure is approved, Keller said it would cost each home owner "15 cents per cop per year."

"Fifteen cents a cop is pretty cheap protection," he said Wednesday at a news conference on the steps of City Hall. "It's a tax increase, but it's not a difficult one."

However, he also said "that's not enough. We're going to have to go to our budget each year for more."

Keller relies on statistics to justify the need, citing nearly 50,000 people who moved to the Las Vegas Valley last year.

"We are now stretched so slim," he said.

While crime in Metro's jurisdiction is holding steady, Keller said: "We're still having crime. I don't want crime to get ahead of us. I don't want to ever feel comfortable."

Earlier this year, Keller held a press conference to denounce reports that crime in the valley was on the rise after the FBI released 1995 crime statistics. Now, Keller says crime is the key reason for adding new cops.

He said that Metro needs more cops "because the population is skyrocketing."

"I don't need to do anything but talk to the public to hear their concerns about safety to meet their needs to have a plan to keep their community safe," he said. "We still had 170 murders in the last 12 months. We're still having crime."

If Keller's campaign is successful, the additional staff would increase the response time for officers dispatched on calls.

He noted that "this is not for today." Rather, funding would begin next July with the first 90 officers hitting the streets in December 1997.

Of the 450 to be hired, 225 would be assigned to patrol, 50 to the gang unit, 25 to traffic and 150 to investigations.

Officers would be added gradually. With 115 new officers added each year for four years, "the cost, of course, increases with it," said Lois Roethal, Metro's comptroller.

Roethal explained that in 1993, when a similar measure was voted down, the public had to consider other issues as well.

"This is one issue," she said, "just more cops, and we have to have it."

Keller said, "We came in 1993 and asked for more cops. We're coming here again to ask the public ... to keep our streets safe and put more cops in the community."

North Las Vegas residents also face a property tax increase if they approve a plan, called Safe Streets 2000, that would add 68 police officers and 36 civilian employees to that police department.