Poll shows disparities in views on Metro

Monday, Sept. 20, 1999 | 11:33 a.m.

Local white and black residents differ sharply on whether Metro Police officers use excessive force and treat all people fairly, but a vast majority believe officers are properly trained.

An overwhelming majority also believe that all police officers should be randomly tested for drug use. These are some of the findings in a Las Vegas Sun/Las Vegas 1 poll of Metro conducted over the past month by the UNLV Cannon Center for Survey Research.

The survey of 401 adults who live in areas of the Las Vegas Valley covered by Metro has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

Some 54 percent believe that Metro does not use excessive force "in light of recent shootings." An overwhelming majority of the black respondents disagreed, however. The survey also found that while residents age 63 and older agreed by a 3-to-1 margin that police do not use excessive force, individuals 18 to 34 were evenly split.

Sheriff Jerry Keller said he was bothered by the vagueness of the question, noting that it did not specify what was meant by "recent shootings."

But he said Metro is doing all it can to reach out to racial and ethnic minorities. He noted that he meets regularly with groups that represent blacks, Hispanics and Asian-Americans and is concerned about allegations of misconduct.

"I'm confident that every time there is an allegation of misconduct or bias that that is thoroughly investigated," Keller said. "When you have an organization that has 3,700 employees, there may be some who make mistakes or consciously make their law enforcement decisions based on the lines of color. When they do and they're identified, we weed them out."

Pam Gallion, the Cannon Center's interim director, said the public's response to a survey can be affected by a specific news event, which is why she said the excessive force question was vague.

"Unless you want to elicit a response to a specific event, you make your question as general as possible," she said.

About 48 percent of the respondents said that Metro treats all people fairly, regardless of race, color or economic status. About 38 percent disagreed. Again, most whites answered affirmatively while blacks sharply disagreed. Hispanics and Asian-Americans were evenly split. Older people also tended to respond affirmatively while most individuals 18 to 34 gave a negative answer.

"I would hope their opinions are based on fact and not what they see in the news," Keller said. "Any time one of our employees engages a citizen, we would want that to be a positive contact. Most of the time when a police officer responds, someone wants them there and somebody doesn't.

"I'm very pleased that more than half of the people in this valley believe that Las Vegas Metro treats everybody in a fair manner."

Keller and Gallion agreed that the fact that young people trust police less than older residents do is part of a national trend.

"Young people who are finding their way, finding their position in life and in the community are certainly more mistrustful of authority than are people who have had a chance to experience life and understand that all they see and read and hear is not always factual," Keller said.

Respondents by a more than 4-to-1 margin believe Metro officers are well trained. Keller said his officers average 88 hours of training each year and that Metro has received national recognition for its training programs.

"When we see a complaint pattern we develop training programs immediately to address that behavior throughout the patrol force," he said. "There is no area where I see a deficiency. If there were, we would move in that direction."

The most overwhelming agreement in the poll was to the question of whether Metro should conduct random drug tests of officers annually. Nearly 91 percent responded affirmatively, an answer that was consistent regardless of age, race or gender. Keller said he believed all of his officers should be randomly tested, but that issue still needs to be worked out with the police union.

The sheriff said that all officers who work in special units, such as SWAT, evidence vault and gang unit, already are randomly tested. Keller and about half of his employees also voluntarily submit to random drug testing. He said his employees began volunteering for the random testing after an officer was fired about two years ago for smoking marijuana.

"We don't have random drug testing for every employee but I believe we should have," Keller said. "The only way a police department can be more successful is having the trust of the public."

Gallion said she was not surprised by the overwhelming affirmative response to the drug-testing question.

"I got a strong sense that that came out strongly because our respondents wanted to hold Metro accountable to them," she said.