Editorial: Even spin won’t help this havoc

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 1999 | 9:25 a.m.

Las Vegas City Manager Virginia Valentine was back on the job Monday, having returned from her two-week vacation in Europe. The first order of business for Valentine was to issue a statement that expressed her indignation that Metro Police and many valley residents are alarmed that the city is thinking about seceding from the city-county police department. "I was amazed to get back and find out about the furor that has occurred when the study is in progress and no conclusions have been reached," she said. While Valentine is back physically in the United States, jet lag may be affecting what is usually a sharp analytical mind as she attempts to put the best spin on this contentious issue.

So Valentine is "amazed" by the reaction? If anything, she should have anticipated that talk of deconsolidation would create a political firestorm. After all, valley residents haven't been clamoring for a breakup of Metro Police. It is perfectly understandable that when city government initiates a study to look at secession from a successful police department, which has seen a 36 percent decline in crime over the past five years, that the public will be worried.

Responsibility for the controversy rests with city government, which insisted on reviewing in secret the possible benefits of breaking away. And why didn't the city notify Metro Police that it was undertaking this analysis? "Metro was not contacted initially due to the politically charged and emotional nature of this topic. Our desire then, as it is now, is to produce a document that is independent of the politics of the city withdrawing from Metro," Valentine added in her statement. But if the city genuinely was concerned about allaying any fears, then it should have understood that keeping it a secret certainly would heighten public fears once word got out.

Substantive doubts also have been raised about preliminary estimates by city staffers that secession could save the city $15 million annually. If the city is indeed serious about creating its own police department, then at the very least it should commission an outside group -- that has no biases or conflicts of interest -- to do the analysis, as Clark County Commission Chairman Bruce Woodbury has suggested. But then again, the city already has taken that route once before and didn't get the answer it was hoping for when City Councilman Michael McDonald, a former police officer who has had a running feud with Sheriff Jerry Keller, sought an independent audit of Metro. That audit released in March gave Metro Police high marks for its organization, staffing and finances.

Despite Valentine's stated fears of politics, the fact is the city's actions in this case seem to have been politically motivated and not focused enough on the public safety aspects of breaking apart a smooth-running police department. During her tenure Valentine has done an admirable job as city manager, but even the best spin doctor couldn't repair this public relations nightmare for the city.