Police will scrap Safe Streets 2000

Diana Sahagun

Tuesday, May 16, 2000 | 11:11 a.m.

North Las Vegas Police will scrap the highly criticized Safe Streets 2000 plan and take another course of action designed to reach the same goal -- putting more officers on the street.

Earlier this month Police Chief Joey Tillmon forwarded a 10-page document to the City Council detailing a time line to meet most -- if not all -- the recommendations set out in a recent audit conducted by Hughes, Perry & Associates.

The recommendations focused on replacing the Safe Streets 2000 program.

Residents approved a tax increase in 1996 to fund the program, but it soon ran into financial difficulty and was unable to meet its goals. The tax hike, which raised more than $2.3 million in its first year, was designed to reach a goal by 2000 -- 68 more officers and 36 more civilian employees.

The goal was never reached. Police officials said costs associated with bringing that many new people aboard had been underestimated by $1 million a year.

The new plan calls for an in-house police academy that is expected to be up and running in the next few months, said Lt. Chris Larotonda, a spokesman for the department, which is in the process of being certified by the state.

Larotonda said the academy will offer training specific to the kinds of standards used by North Las Vegas Police. Larotonda said the academy will be able to have at least two classes of 20 to 25 recruits each year.

Although it is unclear how much the academy will cost the department to operate, Larotonda said the cost will be "reasonable" because it will be taught by officers already employed by the department and will use existing classrooms.

"This academy is going from A to Z," Larotonda said. "When we stop, there is going to be a finished, polished police officer. The bottom line is we want to get more people and put them on the streets."

Mayor Michael Montandon sees the academy as one of the most important recommendations and implementations to come out of the audit.

"The academy is critical because to me ... what's most important are the things that the citizens notice," Montandon said. "Citizens see the effects of numbers of cops on the streets so that's what really pushes the academy up to the top of the list."

Other efforts being discussed include adding civilian staff and beginning a community policing program.

Incoming City Manager Kurt Fritsch may bring a major change in the city's relationship with the police department. When the audit was released in January, auditors pointed out a rocky relationship among City Manager Pat Importuna, Tillmon and the City Council.

"No one appears to be on the same page, and no vision or direction has been agreed to," the audit stated.

Importuna announced his resignation in February and will leave the city effective Thursday. He will use vacation time and sick leave until July 11, when Fritsch will officially take over the position.

Montandon says he never witnessed a "strained relationship" but added that the audit results brought to view an opportunity to grow stronger as a city.

"I didn't really see the strained relationship, but the audit gives me the opportunity to see that somebody saw it," he said. "That relationship is going to improve no matter what, no matter if Pat stayed or not."

Councilwoman Shari Buck said change is already in the works.

"Those issues have been resolved with the new city manager," she said. "There is such a new feeling of hope and progression ... and I attribute a lot of that to Kurt and his style."