Civil rights leaders urged for UNLV police board

Valerie Miller

Tuesday, Dec. 7, 1999 | 9:40 a.m.

Assemblyman Wendell Williams on Monday encouraged UNLV's police advisory board to appoint members of the civil rights community to its panel.

Williams, D-Las Vegas, made his comments to a crowd that included members of the American Civil Liberties Union at the university's Artemus Ham Hall.

The advisory panel is slated to rule on Williams' suggestions during next week's meeting, according to acting UNLV Police Chief Don Drake.

Longtime UNLV Police Chief David Hollenbeck was reassigned last month after the department came under fire for numerous claims of police abuse by students and nonstudents alike.

In October a class-action lawsuit was filed by 75 people who claimed that they were abused by members of the UNLV police department. The suit was filed in federal court.

In September the complaints reached a boiling point when a Community College of Southern Nevada student, who was a reporter for her student newspaper, claimed that she was roughed up by UNLV police during a concert at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Williams had spearheaded a bill requiring accountability on the part of UNLV's police department to Nevada lawmakers.