UNLV withholds raid report from lawmaker

Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2000 | 11:28 a.m.

Add state Sen. Maggie Carlton to the list of people who can't get a state report on a controversial UNLV drug raid.

Carlton, D-Las Vegas, said the university has refused to release the report to her, citing personnel issues in the report on the March 9 drug raid on a student dormitory.

Carlton asked for a copy of the Nevada Division of Investigation report as she studies a bill to put the university system's police under the umbrella of the state's Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety.

The UNLV administration released a two-page summary of the report earlier this month that said university police policies were vague, police lacked experience executing search warrants and the police lacked leadership.

Carlton, chair of a subcommittee that could recommend whether legislative changes to the university police administration, said she is frustrated with the inability to get a copy of the full report.

"It's rather hard to keep an open mind on this issue when you don't have all the information," she said.

Rebecca Mills, UNLV vice president of student life, has said the report's findings will lead to an overhaul of the university police administration, including clarification of police duties, specification of the police chain of command and a change in the policy of dealing with confidential informants.

Mills could not be reached for comment Monday. University officials referred questions to the university system's general counsel's office.

"Release of that report by us would be a violation of the Nevada code," said Karl Armstrong, assistant general counsel. "That report was produced specifically for personnel purposes."

A court order is the only thing that will make the report public, he said.

UNLV administrators also have refused to release the report to the Board of Regents, the UNLV Campus Public Safety Advisory Committee, the Las Vegas Sun and attorney John Moran Jr., who represents 19-year-old UNLV student Graig Adler, charged as a result of the drug raid.

Armstrong said the report contained information that didn't specifically address personnel issues, information which UNLV used to draft proposed changes to police administration and procedures. But information on university police officers was mixed with the other passages, he said, so even a portion of the report cannot be released.

UNLV has said three officers face disciplinary action as a result of the raid.

Adler was charged with felony drug offenses stemming from the raid on Boyd Hall. University police initially said they had recovered drug paraphernalia, baggies of opium and marijuana in the raid.

But according to UNLV, the raid actually netted four tablets of the designer drug Ecstasy and a small amount of marijuana.