Regent calls for disarming of UNLV cops

Friday, Sept. 8, 2000 | 11:25 a.m.

Likening some members of the UNLV Police Department to the bungling Keystone Kops of the Silent Screen era, University Regent Douglas Roman Hill has proposed disarming the campus officers.

Hill, who blasted the police after reading a Nevada Division of Investigation report critical of a March 9 campus dormitory drug raid that netted next to nothing in illegal narcotics, called for his proposal to be placed on next month's regents agenda.

"I read the entire report," Hill said of the the report that UNLV has kept secret from the public and the news media. "I came under the opinion that some UNLV Police Department members acted like the Keystone Kops -- like a bunch of cowboys."

UNLV Police Chief Jose Elique, who was not at the regents meeting Thursday where Hill's comments were made, said that while his officers made mistakes during the raid on Boyd Hall, he disagreed with that characterization.

Elique also said it is "premature and ill-advised" for the elected officials who oversee the state's colleges and university to strip his officers of their weapons.

As Hill spoke of alleged "flagrant" violations by the campus police, he was interrupted by University System General Counsel Tom Ray, who warned that he was discussing confidential personnel matters -- the very reason UNLV has refused to make the report public.

Hill said he was not going to name any of the police officers, and continued:

"I think we should ask the chancellor to go back to the Nevada Division of Investigations and see if they would be so kind as to write a ... report to outline the facts of this particular operation," eliminating officers' names.

That new report, Hill said, could then be released to the public.

"There is stuff the people in this state absolutely need to know about (the police action) -- the disrespect for authority of civilian control, the incompetence, the lack of training and the direct violation of instructions," Hill said.

Hill said he read that the officers, who wore combat fatigues to serve the warrants, kicked in two doors and handcuffed six students and a campus housing advisor who allegedly was forced to accompany them on the raid. Only one student, however, was charged with a crime.

Hill questioned whether the students were less in danger of the small amount of drugs that were recovered than they were from the very officers who are paid to protect them.

Hill said that while he would propose disarming UNLV police in general, he would consider arming a "few designated officers" on the force.

Elique, a veteran cop and administrator from New York who was brought in months after the raid following a nationwide search presumably to clean up the rogue image of UNLV police, said: "I respectfully disagree with him (Hill) and look forward to a dialogue with him and others who feel that way."

Elique said his officers are state-certified police and peace officers who are authorized to carry firearms.

"If (Hill's motion is) adopted, it sends the wrong message," Elique said. "It hurts our efforts to initiate changes and it absolutely puts the officers at risk. It takes only one incident (of a uniformed police officer caught without a gun) for a tragedy to occur. Their job is to protect students and faculty alike."

Elique admitted that the continued media coverage of UNLV's decision not to release the state report that was paid for with public money has "had a dampening affect on officers' morale."

Both Elique and Hill said there are many well-intentioned, good officers on the force.

"I've always said mistakes were made, but I wouldn't characterize it as Keystone Kops," Elique said. "But I can understand that someone not in my business may read it that way."

Recently, Elique took unspecified disciplinary action against two officers involved in the raid.

Regent Tom Kirkpatrick, chairman of the Campus Environment Committee that held the hearing Thursday at the Community College of Southern Nevada campus to discuss policies on reporting documents to the public, said "letters of reprimand" were put into the officers' files.

Kirkpatrick urged the system to come up with a procedure that is "appropriate and correct" to protect the public's right to know, while at the same time obeying confidentiality laws protecting employees.

After the meeting, Ray said it would be difficult for the Nevada Division of Investigation to do another report because the officers who were probed by the state agency are "so intertwined" in the findings.

"If the officers involved would sign off (agree not to take legal actions against the school) the release of the report would be authorized in a second."

The report, according to a two-page summary released by UNLV, found that the officers failed to follow department policies and that university policies were flawed.

In addition, the state report noted 18 bags of a white powdery substance believed to be opium were actually talcum powder, and only a small amount of marijuana and four Ecstasy tablets were recovered.

A 19-year-old student has been charged with felony counts of possession of marijuana and Ecstasy. Graig Adler, through his attorney John Moran Jr., is seeking the state report by asking the court to order UNLV to turn it over so a defense can be prepared.