Elique: Change is imminent

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2000 | 11:26 a.m.

Changes to the UNLV Police Department's policies and procedures and its methods of investigating allegations of officer misconduct are well under way, says new Chief Jose Elique.

Elique told the school's Public Safety Advisory Board at its meeting Monday that since UNLV President Carol Harter approved the committee's recommendations in July, "the new UNLV Public Safety Department" is being developed with a mindset toward community policing.

"Our officers are very well-trained in law enforcement aspects of the job," Elique said. "But they need training in police anger management and conflict resolution and ... in sensitivity and diversity."

In a related matter, the 16-member advisory panel comprised of students, faculty, university staff and law enforcement and police officials, was told by UNLV General Counsel Tom Ray that the school remains steadfast in its decision not to release a state police report critical of the school and its police department.

Ray said state law requires that the rights of "state classified employees" like UNLV's 25 police officers be protected. The school has been under pressure to make public the voluminous report by the Nevada Division of Investigation into the March 9 drug raid on a dormitory by campus police that netted less than a handful of drugs.

UNLV Vice President for Student Life Rebecca Mills said the changes with the police force include revising the Department of Public Safety's mission statement from an authoritarian overtone that encourages the apprehension of criminals to a desire to formulate on-campus partnerships.

She and Elique say they expect the revised police policy handbook to be instituted by the end of the year or early next year.

Elique said his department will put more emphasis on interior patrols of the campus and "not just traffic stops" around the perimeter of the university.

"I am taking the officers out of the patrol cars and having them make contact with people in the (school) community," he said.

Elique has divided the force into four squads with officers working 12-hour shifts and their sergeants being more responsible for the conduct of the men under their charge. Elique or his captain now personally investigate all allegations of misconduct, he said.

Recently, Elique investigated a complaint from a man who claimed he was treated rudely by a school motorcycle officer. Elique said he disciplined not only the officer, who yelled at the man for allegedly tossing a lit cigar at his motorcycle, but also counseled the sergeant who supported the improper actions of the officer.

Gary Peck, executive director of the local American Civil Liberties Union, praised Elique for his action on the recent incident outside a restaurant across from UNLV, but said Elique also should ask the district attorney to drop the charges of public endangerment and attempting to destroy public property still on file against the man.

Policy changes Elique has implemented during his first 100 days on the job include: