City again fails to form citizen review board for Metro Police

Erin Neff

Thursday, Dec. 16, 1999 | 11:09 a.m.

After years of struggle to create a citizen review board with powers to investigate Metro Police wrongdoing, the Las Vegas City Council could have taken the final step Wednesday in forming the board.

Instead, an argument over the city's role in hiring and firing the board's director led the council to delay its vote on the issue for a month and again put the blame on the Clark County Commission.

A group of students from Jacobson Elementary School who shadowed the mayor and council at Wednesday's meeting came up with an interesting observation of the behavior in the chambers.

Joe Broadhead, a fifth-grader who serves as mayor of the school's council called Jacobsonville, told Mayor Oscar Goodman the proceedings reminded him of the "Jerry Springer Show."

With insinuations that the county's wording on the agreement was meant to exclude the city, those gathered for the meeting sensed some fighting words may in fact be exchanged.

Whether merely an oversight, or political wrangling, the issue again forced a delay in creating the board.

"It's been so long already, we may as well do it right," Councilman Michael McDonald said.

When the council was first asked in May to approve an interlocal agreement with the county to form the board, then-Mayor Jan Laverty Jones balked at the wording of the contract because it put all personnel decisions in the county's hands.

The council then decided to amend the agreement with wording giving the city manager input in the process and the City Council a role in ratifying that decision.

Since interlocal agreements must have identical substantive matter, the contract went back to the county in hopes commissioners would add the city's language to its own ordinance.

"We made that change with the expectation that they would make the change," Deputy City Attorney John Redlein said.

He added that because the city's language wasn't added, "I presume they didn't want us to be involved in the (hiring or firing) decision."

The council voted 4-1, with Gary Reese in opposition, to hold the item for one month. Reese had argued that the 25-member board had enough oversight through Metro's Fiscal Affairs Committee.

That committee is comprised of two council members, including Reese, two commissioners and a civilian.

The proposed board would have 13 citizens appointed by the county and 12 by the city.

The delay will allow the city time to amend its code to add specific language.

Currently the city code states that the review board director "serves at the pleasure of the county manager with the consent of the board of County Commissioners and the City Council."

Council members asked that the words city manager be added after county manager.

Councilman Larry Brown said he didn't want to get involved in a sparring match of words between his board and the County Commission.

"I thought it was simply an oversight," Brown said. "I hope that it was an oversight."

Meanwhile, Goodman threw yet another wrench in the proceedings by again stating his displeasure with the concept of the review board.

"It doesn't give this panel any teeth," Goodman said. "In my opinion, I don't think it's strong enough."

When Goodman was running for mayor he said he thought an elected official should serve as director of the board. He stood by that statement Wednesday, saying such an official is needed to ensure accountability.

Residents have fought for a review board for years after several well-publicized cases of Metro officer-involved shootings that were ruled justifiable during Coroner's Inquests.

Citizens clamored for a voice in the process, claiming that Metro's Internal Affairs Bureau and the Inquest were not truly independent.