Union head angers campus cop chiefs

Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2000 | 10:54 a.m.

The public safety chiefs of two local higher education centers are angry over comments made by the president of a state police union who said that crimes at the schools are underreported.

UNLV Police Chief Jose Elique said Tuesday he is launching "a formal inquiry" into statements made Friday by State Peace Officers Council President Ron Cuzze -- one of his officers -- questioning the validity of a federally mandated crime statistic report prepared by UNLV.

George Wesson, chief of the 40-member security force at seven sites of the Community College of Southern Nevada, said he took exception to Cuzze's statements hinting that his officers do not take accurate reports.

Cuzze angered his superiors at UNLV by saying he felt the school's "report is bogus" because it does not take into account unreported dorm crimes.

Elique, who joined the force four months ago and is in charge of Cuzze and two dozen other state-certified police officers, said he sent a letter Tuesday to Cuzze giving him 10 days to respond to questions about his critical statements.

"If crimes are underreported, we want to see what proof he has," Elique said. "And, if Officer Cuzze knew about it, what action did he take as a police officer?"

Cuzze says his comments were not meant to be disparaging toward any security personnel, police officers or their departments.

"Maybe I didn't make it clear, but when I said the statistics are bogus, I was talking about the system under which they are reported and was not being critical of any individuals or agencies," Cuzze said Tuesday.

Universities and colleges that receive federal funds must report annual statistics for nine major crimes including murder and rape to the Department of Education under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act of 1990.

The law was named for a woman who in 1986 was sexually assaulted and murdered at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. The reports are used in part by families to determine whether it is safe to send their children to a particular college.

Elique and Wesson say Cuzze's statements cast doubts on the validity of the statistics that they say are carefully kept because of the threat of a $25,000 federal fine for each error or omission.

Cuzze says he does not question the validity of the crimes that are reported, but says he is amazed that CCSN's three main campuses and numerous off-campus facilities have not had a single major crime other than auto thefts in the last 15 years.

The Clery Act requires the reporting of all murders, negligent manslaughters, forcible sexual assaults, nonforcible sexual offenses, robberies, arsons, aggravated assaults, burglaries and auto thefts. It does not require the reporting of misdemeanors or other serious crimes like domestic violence or non-burglary thefts.

The Community College reported only 10 auto thefts last year, up from four auto thefts in 1998. Also, the community college had no arrests for liquor, drugs or weapons either year. Since 1985 only 52 major crimes have been committed -- all auto thefts, the school says. Wesson said Tuesday he stands behind those statistics.

Cuzze argues: "If there is a major crime in the area of CCSN -- and the Clery Act requires reporting such crimes in and around the school -- area police, not school security, respond to those incidents. The report that is taken counts as a statistic, but not a school-related crime statistic. That's all I'm saying."

Cuzze supports a law that allows the Nevada Board of Regents to establish state certified police officers at community colleges -- a move the Regents have not taken. Colleges statewide have contracts with private security firms, while the two universities have police departments.

Cuzze said investigations by state-certified officers could uncover student-related major crimes not currently recorded as such -- a move he says school administrators don't want because it would indicate that things are not as safe as is being reported.

Cuzze has said he believes UNLV wants to get rid of its police force and replace it with security guards to artificially reduce its crime statistics. UNLV officials have denied that assertion, saying that if a crime is committed on or near the campus it would count as a campus crime statistic no matter who investigates it.

Wesson, who has been in security since the late 1960s, says if he were made aware of any major crimes involving students around CCSN campuses, he would report the incidents as campus crime statistics.

"Our officers file incident reports on everything -- I have no reason to hide anything," Wesson said, showing stacks of reports in his office, including ones for minor incidents of graffiti or a suspicious individual walking near a building but not committing a crime.

"If I have my officers pay that much attention to such small details, you can imagine what we would do for a major incident."

Wesson credits CCSN's good safety record to well-lit campuses, security cameras, alarm systems in all buildings, good communication between him and his security officers and pro-active crime prevention policies.

"We have safety and security committees at all campuses, and I meet regularly with them to discuss ways to improve things," Wesson said. "If we have incidents that require police intervention, we call the police to make the arrests. We don't escalate the situations. Above all, we always treat people with dignity and respect."

Ron Schuster, a former Michigan state-certified police officer who serves as Wesson's assistant chief at CCSN's Charleston Boulevard campus, said he believes the school's crime statistics are accurate given Wesson's diligence at not only logging crime records but also regularly posting the reports on the school's Internet website.

"When I came here, I was quite surprised that Mr. Wesson kept such accurate statistics," Schuster said. "The reports are just as accurate and complete as the ones that we kept when I was a state police officer."

Wesson says he believes Elique's attempts to institute community policing at UNLV, "will reduce crime even more because he wants his officers to get involved in the campus community. That philosophy will work whether it is applied by a police department or security officers."