Tuesday, Oct. 26, 1999 | 10:38 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- A UNLV official Monday promised the university would look at a recommendation to create an independent review board to monitor complaints of misconduct by campus police against students and others.
Rick Bennett, government affairs director for UNLV, gave that assurance to the Legislative Committee on Education, which heard testimony from students and others -- mostly minorities -- that they were roughed up and mistreated by campus police.
"I guarantee this will be resolved," said Bennett, who is on an advisory committee created by the administration to look at campus police policies and to decide if those policies need to be changed.
Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, who heads the legislative committee, pushed for a commitment from UNLV officials for an independent review board to hear complaints about police actions. He said David Hollenbeck, director of public safety at UNLV, had no objection to creating an oversight body to monitor the police.
Meanwhile, the advisory committee that Bennett serves on met for the second time Monday at UNLV to consider a proposal offered by Hollenbeck to form a board to review the records of potential new hires.
But the discussion instead turned into a debate between committee members and representatives of state and school chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union about whether the committee members had enough civil rights experience.
The advisory committee has been criticized for not including UNLV faculty or representatives of civil rights groups.
The majority of the committee members said they did not want to act on the proposal -- or even to advocate forming a review board -- until the composition of the advisory board was broadened.
Bobby Siller, committee member and former head of the Las Vegas office of the FBI, said he took exception to the notion that there is not enough civil rights experience on the committee. Siller, who is black, said he grew up in a segregated society nad has been dealing with civil rights his whole life.
Gary Peck, executive director of the state chapter of the ACLU, said there was no question about whether Siller and other members of the board were sensitive to civil rights issues, but he still wanted to see a group such as NAACP represented on the board.
The legislative meeting in Carson City was called to find out why UNLV and the University of Nevada, Reno failed in 1997 and 1999 to file required reports with the Legislature of police activity and charges of excessive force. But that session turned into a series of complaints about the behavior of campus police in Las Vegas.
Denise Jaramillo, a student at Community College of Southern Nevada, said she went to a concert at the Thomas and Mack Center to write a review. As she was taking pictures, a police officer ordered her to stop. But she said others were continuing to take pictures so she started again. She said she was handcuffed but never arrested. And she was never asked for any identification.
Jaramillo said she reported the incident to UNLV officials.
Leroy Hudson, a former UNLV student, told of twice being stopped while jogging by UNLV police. During the second incident, which occurred in May, Hudson said he was thrown against the car, his cap was pulled down over his eyes, he was never read his rights and he was then arrested.
Hudson was charged with obstructing an officer, battering a police officer, resisting arrest and being a pedestrian in a roadway. He said he never did anything to deserve the arrest.
James Tate of the National Alliance of Racism and Political Repression, told the committee that "racial profiling" is going on at UNLV, just as it is across the nation. When police officers see someone of color, they assume some crime has been committed, he said.
"The police are not going to investigate themselves," said Tate in pushing for an independent review board.
Ronan Matthew, principal at Cheyenne High School, said he was the "victim of excessive force," after attending a concert at UNLV. He said he saw police talking to an acquaintance and he sought to see if he could help. He said the officers "used profanity toward me. They grabbed me and threw into the car. They handcuffed me and searched me."
Mathew said he recognized the officer, who was a security guard at a public school, moonlighting at the university.
Another complaint was lodged by Sir Francis Cooper, who promoted a concert at the university that featured comedy star Dick Gregory. Cooper said those attending were "frisked" and harassed and even Gregory was searched at the event last November. Yet he said there were no police at another event at the same time in an adjacent building.
"I saw an excessive amount of security and police" at his concert, Cooper said, adding that he has since met with university officials but no corrective actions have been taken.
At one point, Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said the committee was "going far afield." He said he did not think its duty was "to be judge and jury and listen to complaints."
Williams replied the law has not been followed that required the university system to report police activity to the Legislature every other year. "I'm trying to get a clear understanding of what was done. The law was ignored. People have a right to speak on this."
After the law was passed in 1993, the university system presented police reports in 1995 but not in 1997 and 1999. Tom Anderes, interim chancellor of the university, said the chancellor's office in 1997 and 1999 failed to ask the schools to submit reports so they could be forwarded to the Legislature. "It shouldn't have happened," he said.
Hollenbeck said UNLV police submit statistics to the FBI but that is on a voluntary basis. Williams said UNLV police do not follow Nevada law but do provide information on a voluntary basis to the FBI.
The community colleges never submitted any reports. Anderes said the law requires police agencies to make the reports but there are no police departments on the community college. Williams said attorneys for the Legislature believe every community college campus should file a report.
Richard Moore, president of the Community College of Southern Nevada, said he has filed annual reports on police incidents with the chancellor's office, even though he is not required to.
There was some confusion about whether an independent review board can be created without approval of the Legislature. Williams said he wanted UNLV officials to make their recommendations by next June in time for them to be drafted into bills for the 2001 Legislature. Sun reporters
Shaunta Grimes and Jerry Fink contributed to this report.
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