Metro retraining officers on use of handcuffs

Keith Paul

Thursday, Dec. 7, 2000 | 10:34 a.m.

Complaints by citizens of being handcuffed after little or no provocation have led to a change in police academy instructions and retraining of all Metro Police field training officers.

"We had received a number of complaints of indiscriminate handcuffing of citizens on traffic stops and stops of individuals," Undersheriff Richard Winget said. "We have received complaints off and on for a while, but there were several in a row that heightened the concern and led to the actions we have taken."

Metro command staff looked at the complaints to determine if the problem was real.

"Yes, we found it was real," Winget said. "It looked like it was caused by an academy instructor on traffic stops and (individual) stops who was indicating it is OK to handcuff for officer safety. Essentially he was instructing them to handcuff whenever in doubt."

Metro officials noticed the trend in complaints about five months ago, and the retraining started about two months ago.

All of the field training officers -- who provide on-the-job training to new academy graduates -- are being schooled on the handcuffing issue. The civilian instructor at the academy, whom Winget would not name, also was directed to adjust his curriculum.

All Metro officers will get a refresher on handcuffing when they go through four hours of training on use of force and tactics, ordered by Sheriff Jerry Keller after the department found three officer-involved shootings violated its policies. That order was issued in October.

Officers are allowed to handcuff people during traffic stops or stops of people in neighborhoods, but they must be able to articulate the perceived danger.

The Citizens Review Board also sent a letter to Winget stating it had received several complaints from people claiming they were handcuffed during routine interaction with officers, such as traffic stops.

"The board was wondering if there was policy about this issue," Andrea Beckman, executive director of the review board, said. "They felt there was a concern."

Metro had already begun the retraining when the review board sent its inquiry, Beckman said.

The issue of officers handcuffing citizens has led to complaints to the Las Vegas office of the American Civil Liberties Union over the years, Gary Peck, executive director, said.

"If I had a dollar for every time I saw a car pulled over on Maryland Parkway and men standing outside of the car in handcuffs, I could probably retire by now," he said.

Peck acknowledges he doesn't know the reasons officers handcuffed the motorist he has seen being detained.

"I would like to learn more of the reasons why, and we think police should keep records of every single stop they make and keep records by race, how (the citizen) is being treated and why," he said.

Nationally, police rules on handcuffing someone other than for an arrest are often vague, especially when it's left up to the officer's discretion, one expert said.

"Handcuffing is inapproprate for simply giving the officer a hard time or demanding an explanation," said James Fyfe, a criminal justice professor for Temple University in Philadelphia, a former New York City police lieutenant and an authority on police accountability. "The (U.S.) Supreme Court decided a brief detention to investigate suspicious situation is allowed, but handcuffing for no cause is not."

Fyfe praised Metro for instituting retraining and changing the curriculum taught at the academy.