Mayor ends city talk of split in police force

Friday, Oct. 8, 1999 | 9:30 a.m.

Mayor Oscar Goodman's announcement that the city is no longer considering withdrawing from the Metropolitan Police Department it shares with Clark County brought a sigh of relief from Sheriff Jerry Keller.

"I'm not a believer in deconsolidation," Keller said.

Goodman said the deconsolidation issue will not be discussed again.

"Deconsolidation is dead," Goodman said Thursday. "So far as Metro is concerned, they can rest easily."

The announcement calmed a political storm that began three weeks ago when news surfaced that city officials were conducting a study on whether to withdraw from the Police Department. Some officials had estimated the plan could save as much as $15 million a year while increasing the number of officers on city streets.

Until Thursday, Goodman had stated that he wanted to see the report before taking a position on a possible pullout.

But after a 45-minute meeting with Keller, Goodman changed his mind. He said the sheriff told him that police officers' lingering uncertainty over the department's future had begun to affect their morale and job performance, putting the public at risk.

"When he told me that Metro officers were having a hard time being attentive to their function and this was having a telling effect on them, I said to myself, 'This is not good for Las Vegas,' " Goodman said.

The mayor said officials will continue to examine whether the city is paying too much of the Police Department's budget compared with Clark County.

The mayor made his announcement without consulting other council members, including former Las Vegas police officer Michael McDonald, who early on embraced the idea of a separate city police department.

Goodman snapped when he was asked whether he should have talked with his colleagues first.

"I'm the mayor," he said. "I'm telling you it's my directive because I'm the one who asked for the report."

A full one-quarter, or $73 million, of the city's annual operating budget goes to the Police Department. In addition, city residents pay $17 million in property taxes each year to pay for new police officers.