No UNLV officers to lose jobs after dorm drug probe

Friday, Aug. 4, 2000 | 11:36 a.m.

No UNLV police officers will be fired even though some police violations occurred during a March 9 dormitory drug raid, UNLV says.

That conclusion was based on findings in a voluminous report resulting from a probe by the Nevada Division of Investigation into a raid on Boyd Hall. A campus housing coordinator claims he was frisked, handcuffed and pushed to the floor by UNLV police officers who were wearing combat fatigues during that raid.

UNLV Police Chief Jose Elique, who has been on the job two months and says there has been "discernible changes" in the operations of his department, said he expects to discipline three officers for their roles in the raid.

"Yes, I am satisfied with the report, although I am not pleased that it found a certain amount of fault with our operation and existing policies," Elique said. "But we have been working to correct the things that are deficient."

Rebecca Mills, vice president for student life, in a news release issued by the university, said: "(Elique) has revised the procedure by which the department receives, investigates and responds to complaints. Overall, I am pleased with the direction the (UNLV police) department is going."

Elique, a seasoned campus police administrator from New York, said that before meting out any discipline he intends to talk to Campus Housing Coordinator Mark Miles, who was told to open dorm doors by the raiding officers and later was detained by them.

It was Miles' complaint that led to the immediate suspension of two UNLV police supervisors, who have since been reinstated, and the state investigation.

Elique and the school declined to name the officers who will be disciplined because of laws regarding personnel privacy.

The state investigation found that:

The March incident was among a string of events that put the school's police force in a bad light. Under the prior chief's administration, students complained of numerous police abuses, including racism.