Regents may decide on release of UNLV cop probe

Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2000 | 10:19 a.m.

The university Board of Regents may decide whether a state report critical of the UNLV campus police over a drug raid will be made public.

Regent Thalia Dondero has asked that the UNLV campus police issue -- including the Division of Investigations report that the school has refused to make public -- be placed on the next Board of Regents meeting agenda.

The regents need to "look at the policies regarding that department," Dondero said on "POV Vegas," the Las Vegas Sun's news discussion show that airs on Las Vegas ONE, Cox cable channels 1 and 39.

Dondero, chairwoman of the regents, said she has not yet seen the voluminous report that found improprieties by campus police involved in a March 9 dormitory drug raid.

Asked by "POV Vegas" host John Purvis if she believes it is her right to see the report, Dondero said, "I would like to see it, yes."

She added that the Board of Regents, which oversees the state's universities and colleges, should discuss whether they "have a right to let the public see what happened."

Las Vegas attorney John Moran Jr., who represents 19-year-old UNLV student Graig Adler, has demanded the report's release. Adler was charged with felony drug offenses stemming from the police action at Boyd Hall.

Karl Armstrong, assistant general counsel for UNLV, said the documents would be released only under a court order.

UNLV student Alina Shell, a member of the Campus Public Safety Advisory Board who was a guest on the show, said the incident is "part of a larger pattern of abuse" by members of the UNLV police force.

She said they include one student who allegedly was accosted by campus police while riding his bike and now faces obstruction charges, and a female student who allegedly was abused by campus police while taking photos at a campus rock concert.

"It seems to be the same officers over and over again doing the same kind of things," Shell said, noting that keeping the report secret "creates a lot of mistrust in the public's eye."

Gary Peck, executive director of the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said many students who have been confronted by the campus police have had no previous trouble with the law. The district attorney's office said Adler has no prior convictions.