Former ATF agent takes UNLV post

Monday, March 27, 2000 | 10:55 a.m.

After losing its police chief and acting police chief amid controversies alleging officer abuses, UNLV has gone outside the school for leadership of its embattled public safety workers.

Ed Verkin, special agent in charge of the Las Vegas office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms from 1990 to 1998, has assumed the role of interim director of public safety, UNLV officials said.

Virkin, who has 27 years at the ATF, began his UNLV duties last Thursday. He will run the department while a nationwide search to find a permanent replacement continues. School officials have said they hope to hire a permanent police chief in about two months.

"I went to the heads of local police forces asking if they knew of a retired police officer who could do the job, and several of them recommended Ed," Bob Ackerman, director of UNLV student services, said today.

Virkin is not among the dozen applicants currently being considered for the permanent police chief job, Ackerman said.

The UNLV police force has about 35 employees, including 20 certified police officers, Ackerman said.

The decision to bring in Virkin comes in the wake of Sgt. Don Drake, the acting chief, being placed on administrative leave while the Nevada Division of Investigations looks into his involvement in a March 9 campus drug raid on Boyd Hall, where a campus housing coordinator claims he was roughed up by officers.