Narcotics officer probed

Cathy Scott

Thursday, Nov. 6, 1997 | 10:38 a.m.

An undercover narcotics officer, on the Metro Police force for 18 years, may be charged with open and gross lewdness after allegedly exposing himself to a motel maid and a tourist outside two Las Vegas motels.

The case of the officer, who once worked in the vice detail, is now out of Metro's hands and up to the district attorney, Sheriff Jerry Keller said. The case was forwarded Wednesday to the district attorney's office for possible prosecution on gross misdemeanor charges.

The announcement came from Keller at a news conference Wednesday at City Hall.

The officer was described to police by one witness as "nude from the waist down" and another as completely naked, Keller said. The incidents allegedly occurred in late October.

Deputy District Attorney Dan Bowman said today that he was going to discuss the case with District Attorney Stewart Bell at 10:30 a.m. today and "we should have a decision then."

Two victims, from two different Days Inn locations, told detectives the officer stood outside their windows of the motels and exposed himself. One of the victims took down the suspect's license plate number and it came back to the officer's vehicle. Detectives went to Memphis, Tenn., last week to interview the tourist, a traveling saleswoman, he said.

Keller said while there have been officers disciplined for misconduct in the "last several months," he emphasized that there are good officers "who put their lives on the line every day."

The accusation has shocked veteran officers whom Keller said "line up to get on (the officer's) squads."

"It's never very fun to stand before you and make a report like this," Keller said.

Undersheriff Dick Winget said afterward, "Whenever you have a large department, you can expect there will be problems. I would like to think the community is confident (in the police force)."

The undercover narcotics officer is on paid administrative leave pending the decision of the district attorney's office.

Twenty-five officers have been fired since Jan. 1, 1995 through today. That doesn't include officers such as a DARE cop who resigned Wednesday rather than face discipline for testing positive for marijuana in her system, according to Sgt. William Minor.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer, on the force for three years, volunteered in May to transfer to the DARE program, where officers teach students how to avoid drug use.

Winget said the department has received many phone calls from concerned parents. The most significant one, he said, was Wednesday from a woman who had gotten off drugs and whose daughter was a fifth-grade student in the DARE program. The student's DARE officer was the one who tested positive for marijuana use, he said.

"She was crying on the phone because she had told her daughter to always trust her DARE officer," he said. "She said, 'So now what do I tell her?' I told her to tell her daughter that the determination to stay off drugs comes from within."

Keller said the schools where the DARE officer worked -- at Kim, Smith, Parson and Reed elementary schools -- have been notified. Teachers and students "are as shocked as all of us are," he noted. The officer's last day in those schools was Oct. 28, when a sergeant pulled her out of school and put her on paid administrative leave.