Keller can’t understand deconsolidation talk

Erin Neff

Tuesday, Sept. 21, 1999 | 11:08 a.m.

Las Vegas City Council members say a move to break away from Metro Police is primarily about accountability.

But Sheriff Jerry Keller wonders who his department hasn't been accountable to.

"If crime were up 40 percent in the last five years, I could understand it," Keller said. "But crime is down almost 40 percent.

"If the (city-commissioned) audit showed we could save the city money, I'd believe it," Keller said. "But the audit said we've set the standard for police administration."

Keller and county leaders were shocked to learn the city is studying whether to form its own police department. Preliminary results of a yet-to-be-released in-house study, leaked to the media last week by Councilman Michael McDonald, shows the city could save a lot of money, council members said.

But council members say that the move toward deconsolidation has been a long time coming.

"Back in 1973 when they consolidated (the city and county police forces) I felt the city got ripped off then," Councilman Gary Reese said.

Former Mayor Jan Laverty Jones had questioned whether the city was paying too much for police services. An audit by DMG-Maximus released in March looked into those concerns and found Metro was one of the most effective police agencies in the country. Until the unreleased study, which was done by the city's Department of Detention and Enforcement with the Department of Finance and Business Services, the city had never had any data to suggest its taxpayers were getting a raw deal.

"One of the questions that I'm sure this analysis will bear out is, 'Have the city residents been subsidizing the county residents for police service?' " Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald said.

Boggs McDonald said she also is concerned that the elected sheriff is held accountable only to voters and not to the council or the mayor.

"Something that's a high priority for me and the City Council might not have the same priority with the sheriff, who has to look over all of the unincorporated areas and the city of Las Vegas," Boggs McDonald said.

Keller said he has held monthly meetings with the city and county managers since January and has regular meetings with Mayor Oscar Goodman. Concerns about accountability were never raised, he said.

"Deconsolidation is bad government," Keller said. "Consolidation occurred 26 years ago because it could save money and improve services."

Preliminary results of the city analysis suggest Las Vegas could save $9 million to $17 million annually if it formed its own police department.

"If that's the case, I think that's what we should do," Reese said.

The city owns and maintains all of the Metro substations that lie within the city limits. Police in Henderson and North Las Vegas train at the city of Las Vegas academy. In addition the city has its own fire service dispatch that could be used in a city-run police force.

Council members rattle off the data of a study still under wraps with such ease it seems many have already made up their minds.

"If we can maintain a high level of service and reduce our costs, I'm all for it," Boggs McDonald said. "If we are able to deconsolidate, it would probably be the biggest public policy accomplishment in the history of the Las Vegas City Council."

In order for deconsolidation to occur, a majority of the City Council would have to vote to end the interlocal agreement between the city and Clark County that funds Metro.

If the council approves such a measure, the city would have to notify the county within six months of the intended split. If a new city police force were created, it would begin July 1, 2000, with the start of the next fiscal year.

Councilman Larry Brown said the study of Metro is simply a part of the accountability measures the city has been taking for the past two years. That effort includes conducting audits, streamlining departments, studying possible court consolidation and justifying all city positions when they become vacant.

"Metro is one of the finest police departments in the nation," Brown said. "That said, if you go on the assumption that this move could increase public safety and save upwards of $15 million a year, then we need to have a public dialogue with the county and Metro.

"We can't be the only ones to say it," he added. "We have to allow the county, Metro and the citizens to debate it."

Goodman has begun studies of a variety of programs and city expenditures since he took office. The first such study will likely result in the privatization of the city-subsidized Sister Cities program.

"I'm going to take a look at everything," Goodman said recently. "If it's working, great. If not, we're going to come up with ways to make it work."

In addition to cost, McDonald supports the effort to deconsolidate because he said he feels Metro is not always accountable. As a former Metro officer who juggled police and council duties, he said he learned to dislike certain things within the department.

"How could I put this politically correct?" McDonald asked during a recent interview, recalling his days employed with Metro. "I don't miss some of the propaganda that came with being a councilman and then going to work at 3 o'clock and having an administration that, as we can see today, had their own agenda."

McDonald claims Metro administrators "dragged him" into the news regarding the recent arrest of his friend, Robert Groesbeck, at the House of Blues Foundation Room. McDonald, a regular at the private club, said he was not there when Groesbeck was arrested even though his name surfaced in police reports.

Keller said he does not understand the council's concerns because, he said, he has received only three calls from City Council members in the five years that he has been sheriff.

"I can't imagine, whether the police chief is elected or appointed, if crime is down 36 percent, that accountability is an issue," Keller said.

Before consolidation in 1973, Keller said Las Vegas ranked first nationwide in reported crime. Today, he said, Las Vegas ranks 205th in those same crime statistics for cities over 75,000 population.

He also said the 36 percent drop in crime in the past five years occurred even as the city population grew 30 percent.

"I can't imagine what prompted this," Keller said. "It affects everybody in the city and everybody in this department. They're all asking questions about whether this could happen."

Metro sent a memo to all 3,500 of its employees Monday explaining the department's position and "telling them we are successful by being professional," Keller said.

County Manager Dale Askew called the deconsolidation talk "a bold move" and said he welcomes the chance to meet with city leaders to find out why they want to break the city away from Metro.

"We have to take the position that's best for county residents," Askew said. "I don't think deconsolidation is in the best interest."