NLV Police alcohol issue debated

Lisa Snedeker

Thursday, March 18, 1999 | 11:14 a.m.

North Las Vegas residents say recent allegations that a police officer reported to work with alcohol on his breath constitutes a public safety issue, not a personnel matter.

Residents joined police officers in giving the City Council an earful Wednesday.

Their concerns focused on Sgt. Tim Grady, who was placed on administrative leave with pay Feb. 25 pending an internal investigation into whether he came to work under the influence of alcohol.

City Attorney Richard Maurer said that as part of the police union contract, details of discipline measures given to officers are private, personnel matters.

But Stop DUI Executive Director Sandy Heverly, who asked the council for an independent inquiry into the Grady matter and the department's administrative procedures, said she and her organization believe when a police officer, or anyone else, drives while intoxicated, it is a public safety issue.

A breath test revealed Grady's blood-alcohol level was below 0.05. The legal limit for driving is 0.10.

Grady, a 20-year veteran, is in charge of the department's DUI checkpoint program.

Under city policy, employees are considered intoxicated if they come to work with a 0.05 blood-alcohol level, police spokesman Lt. Joe Forti said. The department's policy, Forti said, is even stricter: "You shall not drink so much that when you report to duty, there is an odor of intoxicant upon your person."

Grady received a written reprimand for the incident, and earlier this week, Police Chief Joey Tillmon was suspended without pay for two days.

While city officials would not release any details on the chief's suspension, sources within the department say it is because he gave Grady a written reprimand rather than suspension.

Forti said earlier, however, if an officer is in violation of department policy, it is up to the chief to decide the punishment.

"There might be other factors involved," Forti said.

Heverly questioned when, how many times and by what methods Grady was tested for intoxication.

Resident Mike Winne, along with Heverly, accused the police department of an attempted cover-up of the incident.

"It's not a personnel matter, it's a criminal matter," he said. "It's our problem."

Officer Mike Thomas, who is on paid leave from the department, told the council he takes no pride in telling anyone that he is a North Las Vegas Police officer. Using the Grady incident as an example, he accused the department of dirty dealings and being run on the "good old boy" system.

Thomas, a Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer, complained that he was suspended for a day for talking about the police union while on the clock, yet Grady, who Thomas pointed out is a police union board member, reportedly only received a written reprimand from Tillmon when he allegedly reported to work while intoxicated.

"The city needs to review its hiring policy because when it hired me, it hired an honest cop," said Thomas, whose remarks were met with applause from supporters in the audience.

Officer John Armstrong, who is also on paid administrative leave, told the council he and Thomas have been harassed because of pending lawsuits against the police union for failing to represent them during arbitration proceedings after they were fired two years ago. Both were reinstated following outside arbitration.

According to the city attorney's office and the Municipal Court, Thomas was charged last week with two counts of misdemeanor battery for a Dec. 22 scuffle that allegedly broke out in the police department's Detective Bureau, where Thomas was being questioned about a separate incident involving Dave Galyen, president of the North Las Vegas Police Officers' Association.

Thomas told the council, however, he has yet to receive a summons for the charges.

Attempts to reach Galyen were unsuccessful, and no representatives of the police association spoke out at the meeting.

Councilwoman Paula Brown said after the meeting she believes the recently initiated performance and organizational audit of the police department may result in some policy changes. The audit is expected to be completed in July.

She added that the council cannot formally address the issues brought up Wednesday, because they were brought up in the public forum and were not agenda items.

The department also has been plagued by the lack of a contract since June 30.

The city and the police officers' union recently began renegotiating a contract for police and detention officers. The City Council voted Aug. 5 not to accept the contract agreement because the cost of the contract for the first year would have been about $1.5 million -- $833,000 more than what had been budgeted, according to minutes of the meeting.