School district to name top cop

Jace Radke

Wednesday, June 14, 2000 | 11:48 a.m.

With new superintendent Carlos Garcia set to take over for outgoing superintendent Brian Cram on July 5, the Clark County School Board is ready to announce who will fill another of the district's top administrative posts.

The district's first full-time police chief will be appointed at Thursday night's School Board meeting, fulfilling a mandate by the 1999 State Legislature requiring the 119-member force to be under the supervision of a chief.

The chief will make a starting salary of $66,132 and will report directly to the superintendent.

The Clark County School District Police Union has expressed worries in the past about the department not having enough autonomy under a chief who reports to the superintendent instead of the School Board, but union president Phil Gervasi says the organization now agrees with the arrangement.

"That's the way the law went, and we're going to live with it," Gervasi said. "We don't have a problem with the new chief reporting to the new superintendent. We're really very happy about it."

Former police supervisor Dan Reyes has been working as acting chief since last June, and will be in line for another job with the department once the new chief takes over, said Eddie Goldman, assistant superintendent of administrative operation and staff relations.

"He has seniority, and will be eligible for the next lowest job level, which would be lieutenant," Goldman said.

Before becoming acting chief Reyes served as the department's supervisor for seven years, and he says the duties of the two jobs were virtually identical, including reporting to the superintendent's office.

During the 1999 Legislative session, some school police officers testified in favor of a bill that would have put them under the control of Metro Police instead of a web of school administrators.

That bill was passed, but also gave the district the option of installing its own full-time police chief instead of looking for another police organization to supervise their officers.

The police union has questioned the power principals wield in telling the officers what areas of schools to patrol, saying that school police need to be proactive talking to students, and patrolling where they see the need.

School police are academy trained like Metro Police officers, carry guns and have powers of arrest. Routinely school police work with Metro and other area authorities on large incidents, such as when two students were injured in a shooting on the Clark High School campus last October.