Keller shares policing model at conference

Keith Paul and Jace Radke

Wednesday, May 31, 2000 | 11:26 a.m.

Cops may measure success on arrests, but neighborhoods keep another kind of scorecard.

Clark County Sheriff Jerry Keller learned that lesson in 1990, when as a captain he held a community meeting in a Meadows Village parking lot. He was confident that a rash of arrests in the crime-ridden neighborhood just west of what is now the Stratosphere Tower had given residents a measure of security.

Then he started listening to them.

Residents of the predominantly Hispanic neighborhood weren't interested in who was in jail. They wanted to talk about broken street lights and the lack of Spanish-language signs in nearby parks.

"We made a lot of arrests of drug dealers in the area, but the residents said they hadn't seen a single motorcycle cop in the area, and people are speeding up and down the streets so their kids couldn't play outside," Keller said.

That's when Keller realized that the Metro Police Department can't just arrest its way out of problems.

"We need to listen to the people. In Meadows Village we weren't listening as a police force," Keller said.

Since then, community policing has become a staple of the police department, with three officers assigned to the task at each of Metro's five substations. In addition, the department has formed several specialized units that work with neighborhoods to cut crime.

Keller is sharing Metro's community policing model today and Thursday at Community Justice 2000, a conference of community leaders, law enforcement and criminal justice agencies from six Western states.

The conference at the Orleans hotel-casino is showcasing examples of community policing philosophies, ideas and programs in Alaska, Hawaii, Utah, Oregon, New Mexico and Nevada.

Metro Officer Rick Nogues says he has seen the difference community policing can make in a neighborhood since being assigned to Meadows Village along with six other officers 10 months ago.

"I've seen a big change in the amount of violent crime in the neighborhood," Nogues said. "We've seen that crime drop about 80 percent, and there has been a transition where the residents know us and will call and report what's going on."

The department rents a space in the Monterey Villas Apartments on Tam Drive, where at least one of the seven officers is stationed at all hours of the day. The officers have a cell phone with a number that is given out to Meadows Village residents and often walk or ride bikes through the neighborhood.

One wall in their office is covered with about 150 pictures of known sex offenders, drug dealers, prostitutes and gang members police attempt to keep out of the neighborhood, Nogues said.

"This is the new wave in police work," Nogues said. "With community policing, we can be proactive instead of reactive. In a lot of ways we're becoming just like the old beat cops that used to walk the neighborhood."

Officers Erik Fricker and Mark Misuraca form a hybrid pair of community policing beat cops known as HELP, or the Homeless Evaluation Liaison Project. The two officers work out of an office at MASH Village, helping homeless people and families find shelter and solving crimes in that community.

A few miles away at the downtown area substation, Officer Laurie Bisch intervenes in people's lives not just through the enforcement of laws but by helping seek out the assistance they need with her program Operation Make a Difference.

The program was started about two years ago to help clean up downtown neighborhoods, Bisch said.

"We get feedback from patrol units about the problems they see in their areas, and then we have the time to go out and do something about it," Bisch said.

Those problems can include run-down buildings that don't meet codes and have become places where drugs and criminal activity occur, or something as simple as informing people they need new locks.

Patrol officers brought the plight of 82-year-old Toni Crawford to Bisch's attention after the elderly woman's home was burglarized four times in two years. Crawford has lived in the neighborhood near Bonanza Road and Eastern Avenue for 45 years, but her house had become surrounded by a small forest of trees and bushes that gave burglars ample hiding places.

Bisch rounded up off-duty Metro officers and some student volunteers and cut back the trees and bushes surrounding Crawford's house.

"We work closely with the city's rapid response team, code enforcement and public works and other agencies," Bisch said. "We pool our resources and try to take care of things that could become more of a problem down the road."

Keller spills out story after story of an officer going on a call and finding more to do than just fill out a report about graffiti. For example, he tells the story of an officer who went to an elderly man's home and found that his tenants were taking advantage of him.

A closer look revealed the tenants were operating a burglary ring out of the man's house. The tenants were arrested, and 30 to 40 burglaries were solved. But the officer also went to other government agencies and got the man assistance in fixing up his house, Keller said.

Police will always chase after purse snatchers and target drug dealers, but Keller says officers can never forget the people living in a neighborhood.

"When cops are only calling drug suspects by name, then you've got a problem," Keller said. "We've got cops out there calling kids in the neighborhood by name and getting to know the people and the problems of the area."

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