Columnist Jeff German: Local lawmen focus on terrorists

Friday, Nov. 16, 2001 | 5:10 a.m.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at (702) 259-4067 or by e-mail at german@lasvegassun.com

SINCE THE SEPT. 11 attacks, law enforcement agencies all over America, including Las Vegas, are rethinking their crime-fighting strategies.

Terrorism is on the minds of all lawmen.

Earlier this month Attorney General John Ashcroft disclosed that he was reorganizing the FBI to give it the lead role in the fight against terrorism in this country.

And when he announced his retirement last month, Sheriff Jerry Keller said he wanted to devote the remaining 14 months of his term to making sure Las Vegas police are prepared to deal with threats of terrorism.

Now comes word that the Intelligence Section, the Metro Police Department's longtime point in the war on organized crime, is about to undergo a radical makeover.

The days of tailing wise guys around town aren't over by any means, but police also want to apply those skills to tracking the movements of potential terrorists.

The department is in the process of redefining the unit's mission to make it more aggressive in gathering intelligence in this new war.

Intelligence Lt. Mike McClary has been assigned the task of coming up with a plan to reform the unit. He's expected to report back to Metro's top brass within a month.

"The world has changed," says Deputy Chief Bill Young, who heads the department's Special Operations Division, which includes the Intelligence Section. "We have to adjust and adapt."

Young, a candidate for sheriff in 2002, says no law enforcement agency in the Southern Nevada community actively worked terrorism cases prior to Sept. 11.

The Intelligence Section still would maintain its responsibility for organized crime, but it would be more selective about the the priority given to organized crime.

The disclosure that five of the 19 hijackers in the attacks on New York and Washington visited Las Vegas just prior to Sept. 11 has made it painfully obvious that authorities need to be more vigilant on the home front.

Investigators have theorized that the hijackers were here last summer to help plan the attacks on the East Coast.

But even though Las Vegas likely wasn't a target, there's a feeling that the cops on the street need to play a bigger role in spotting potential terrorists in the future. They also need to know what to do when they stop someone who might fit the terrorist profile. The FBI, after all, isn't always going to be there for guidance.

That's where the Intelligence Section, which is part of the FBI's Joint Counter-Terrorism Task Force, can be very valuable.

Last week Grant Ashley, special agent in charge of the Las Vegas FBI office, reported that police are taking the lead in developing a plan to inform the public about any credible threats.

It was another example of how closely the FBI and local law enforcement agencies, particularly Metro Police, are working together in Las Vegas.

Keller, meanwhile, was in Washington last week meeting with FBI Director Robert Mueller, who was looking for input from local police chiefs on how to better coordinate the overall assault on terrorism.

All Keller probably had to do to enlighten the FBI director was give him the lowdown on his fine working relationship with Ashley in Las Vegas.

The changing direction of Metro's Intelligence Section is likely to bolster that relationship even more.

And that can only be a plus, as law enforcement authorities in Las Vegas and across the country rethink their crime-fighting strategies in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.