Police get mixed reviews in audit

Diana Sahagun

Friday, Jan. 14, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

An audit of the North Las Vegas Police Department shows a department struggling to keep up with growth while maintaining a rocky relationship with the City Council and city manager.

According to the audit, the police department is understaffed, there are continuing vacancies in positions, and the department's building is inadequate.

But the audit also notes that the department has aggressively attacked some high-priority problems in the community, contributing to a decrease in crimes in the past five years.

The audit will be released at a special City Council meeting 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Conducted last March by Hughes, Perry and Associates, a San Francisco-based firm, the audit is the last of a series conducted by outside firms of all city departments -- the detention center was first, followed by the city.

The auditors found that the police department has not been pro-active in adopting City Council objectives in certain areas, including the expansion of community-oriented policing and strategies for dealing with gangs.

"It does not appear that the police department has incorporated these objectives into their strategic direction and it is not clear to what degree the various objectives are still a priority," the audit states.

Also, according to the report, "There is significant distrust between the police department and its staff and the city manager and City Council. As a result communications appear to be limited. No one is on the same page and no vision or direction has been agreed to."

Although the city released a copy of the audit to the Sun Thursday, police department officials declined comment until Tuesday's special meeting. City Manager Pat Importuna was not available for comment.

Michael MacBan, president of the North Las Vegas Police Officers Association, said the union has been telling the city for years that the distrust existed and could be detrimental. MacBan maintains that it wasn't necessary to conduct an audit that basically told them the same thing.

"That kind of distrust brings the city a huge amount of expense and time wasted to come to the same conclusion," he said. "If the (City Council) still doesn't trust the police department, then trust the audit and follow it."

According to a confidential survey of employees of the police department, which only 49 percent of staff responded to, more than two-thirds of the police officers and more than half of the civilian staff polled said the council and city manager have not clearly stated their priorities to the police department.

And 70 to 80 percent of the police officers said they do not believe the police department supports the council and city manager's priorities and neither of the parties understand each other's priorities, issues and requirements.

The audit also picked up on the problems that followed after passage of the COPS 2000 bill in 1996.

Residents approved a tax increase under the bill in order to put more police officers on the streets. The program soon ran into financial difficulty and was unable to meets its goals. The tax raised more than $2.3 million in its first year and was designed to add 68 officers and 36 civilian employees by 2000 -- but the total number of officers originally promised was no longer feasible because of a built-in $1 million-plus deficit a year.

The auditors said the police department needs to go beyond the Safe Streets plan developed several years ago and create a specific plan for staffing needs.

"The fact that people agreed to be taxed as the highest city in the state, sends a clear message that they want more police officers and adequate protection," MacBan said.

While the audit says steps have been taken over the past two years to improve the recruitment and selection of police officers, it concludes that by enhancing recruitment and by reducing the current military "boot camp" orientation, the staff concerns can be minimized.

In 1998-1999 it was reported that there were little to no budgeted funds for police officer recruitment in the departmental budget. It is proposed that $40,000 be budgeted for police officer recruitment and another $10,000 be budgeted for recruitment connected with key sworn-in staff and records and communications.

While the departments are effectively utilized, the current traffic enforcement program, narcotics enforcement unit, communications unit, patrol staffing, and records unit are all minimally staffed and experiencing extensive work backlogs due to vacant positions, the report said.

And with the need for more officers also comes the need for a new facility. The council and department continue to work to find a more feasible location for a new police station.

According to the audit, the current police station on Lake Mead Boulevard "totally lacks most basic requirements for a modern office facility for either public or private use including poor air circulation, and virtually no natural light.

"The facility presents a poor image to public visitors to the department."

Projected space shows the department needs a new facility of 117,000 square feet and a site of 6.9 acres to keep up with the hiring of staff.