County OKs ‘order out corridor’

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 1999 | 12:46 p.m.

Drug offenders arrested in troubled neighborhoods east of the Las Vegas Strip will be kept out of the area for up to a year under Clark County's new ordinance unanimously adopted Tuesday.

But the lingering question is: Where will the drug pushers go?

Anxious residents who live just outside the boundaries of the county's new "order out corridor" fear drug users and dealers will be shoved into their neighborhoods and commit the same crimes.

"As you consider what to do with the new law, think about other areas where they will go," said resident Kevin Flaherty. "The further they're pushed south or east, we're the ones who have to deal with it."

Under the county's law, a judge can offer misdemeanor drug offenders arrested in the targeted area a suspended sentence if they agree to stay out of the area for six months to a year.

If they violate the agreement, they will serve at least 30 days in jail. However, exceptions could be made for offenders who live, work, attend church or need to access social or medical services in the area.

The county drew the boundary lines for the corridor, which essentially is located west of Maryland Parkway, east of Paradise, south of Sahara and north of Russell Road, based on drug-related crime statistics provided by Metro Police.

Metro Sgt. Byron Stringer said between Jan. 1 and Aug. 25 of this year, officers received 543 drug-related calls in the targeted neighborhoods, which is the most of any command area in the valley.

Metro Officer Monica Hutchinson said drug pushers are so brazen, they stand on street corners and jog out to motorists stopped at traffic lights.

"To the normal citizen, that might mean someone is going out to say hi to Suzie or Joey," Hutchinson said. "But to a police officer, that kind of activity says drugs."

Throwing misdemeanor drug offenders in jail does little, Hutchinson said. Often times they are out before officers can get back to the department and complete the paperwork. The new ordinance will keep them away from the neighborhood or at least guarantee a substantial jail sentence.

"If we can force them out of one area, that's what we are aiming for," Metro Officer Will Seifert said. "We want them to go back to where they live."

Commissioner Myrna Williams, who introduced the ordinance largely because drug dealing occurs near schools, said she isn't worried about drug-users scurrying to other areas of the county because many of them are from out of town.

Williams also conceded that the ordinance won't solve problems with drug use or dealing in the county.

"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time; this is a step," she said. "I'd like to see the whole county be an order-out district, but we can't start with the whole county."

The ordinance was scrutinized by Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada. Peck, who admitted he had yet to read the ordinance, questioned whether the law was constitutional. He also expressed concerns about where convicted drug-users would go.

"It is a bad, not ultimately a terribly effective policy," Peck said. "All we are doing is moving the problem around. If you want to move it around, you can fight with the residents who live there and businesses there."

Peck asked that the ACLU be permitted to review the ordinance as the organization had with a similar law passed by the city of Las Vegas about a year ago.

The city's order-out corridor includes neighborhoods along Fremont Street and extends north to Washington.

City Councilman Gary Reese, who introduced the Las Vegas ordinance, called the program a success, but said there has been a problem with drug dealers simply moving on to other neighborhoods in the valley.

"You're stirring the pot," he said. "You're taking them from here and putting them there. "

Reese suggested that drug pushers who are repeatedly arrested should be given harsher sentences and not be permitted to take part in the order-out programs.

"The city and the county have been fair long enough; it's about time we start feeding them three meals a day," Reese said. "The ordinance is good for what it does. If they move somewhere else, maybe we should go back to old remedies -- run them out of town or put them in jail."