Metro officer honored for work

Monday, July 26, 1999 | 9:35 a.m.

Metro Officer Laurie Bisch has been selected as the Veterans of Foreign War's Nevada police officer of the year.

The award honors Bisch's efforts to reclaim a 78-year-old Las Vegas man's home from a group of street criminals.

Bill Taylor's trouble began when he rented out his garage on Houston Street to a stranger. Taylor was later mugged, and while he was in the hospital recovering, the man began renting space in Taylor's house to drug dealers, prostitutes, robbers, burglars and vagrants.

Taylor returned from the hospital to find he had become a virtual prisoner in his own home.

After a Metro investigation into burglaries ended in the arrest of the unwanted roommates, the property was condemned and targeted for demolition.

Bisch discovered Taylor was living there and how the property came to its dilapidated state and solicited help from government agencies and private businesses to replace carpeting and floor tiles and to repair walls in the house.

The rebuilding effort took 33 days and resulted in the home being taken off the city's demolition list.

Bisch will represent the state of Nevada in the national J. Edgar Hoover Medal Award contest at the VFW's 100th national convention in Kansas City next month.

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