Metro to add homeland security position

Keith Paul

Friday, June 7, 2002 | 11:05 a.m.

Metro Police will add a newly created homeland security position to "help connect the dots" of information gathered so that police are not left scrambling to respond in the event of a terrorist attack, Sheriff Jerry Keller told the Sun Thursday.

In the months before Sept. 11, five of the hijackers were in Las Vegas -- but it was not until much later that FBI and Metro investigators determined the terrorists had visited motels on Las Vegas Boulevard.

"We need the coordination in place to ensure if there is a next time, we know they (the terrorist) are coming, not that they were here," Keller said.

To that end, Keller appointed Capt. Bill Conger to the new position of commander -- between deputy chief and captain -- for Metro's Office of Homeland Defense. Conger officially starts the new job next month.

FBI and other intelligence gathering agencies have been criticized for not spotting warning signs of the attacks through information gathered prior to Sept. 11. On Thursday, President Bush called for the creation of a new Cabinet department for domestic defense.

Locally, FBI officials are still trying to determine why the five hijackers were in town. Metro detectives assisted FBI agents after the terrorist attacks, assigning one detective full-time to the local FBI joint terrorism task force. Keller said he is going to send three more officers to the task force.

"We are not having the new homeland defense office replace anything we are doing now; it will be in addition to what we are doing," Keller said.

Keller said Conger, currently the captain over the vice and narcotics bureau, will coordinate information and make sure that training is in place for intelligence detectives and street cops.

The new head of the FBI's Las Vegas office, Ellen Knowlton, said Metro continues to work with the federal agency on homeland defense and the department's new office will augment the community's efforts.

"The addition of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's homeland security division provides yet another tool in our efforts to protect the community," Knowlton said in a statement.

Keller said a terrorist attack -- even a minor incident -- in Las Vegas would likely devastate the area's economy.

However, he added, "We have no information, no intelligence and no beliefs that Las Vegas is a target. But while there are no are no specific corroborated threats, we must maintain vigilance.

"We are a worldwide city and we have to take the extra effort to protect our citizens and the 38 million people who visit."

Conger, who is in the process of getting federal "Top Secret" security clearance, will also supervise the support services bureau that includes emergency management, K-9 unit, air support unit, mounted patrol and the resident officer section.

A California-based homeland security expert said local police departments having a coordinator for anti-terrorism efforts is a logical move.

"It is absolutely appropriate for them to put someone in charge," said Johnathan Tal, president of Homeland Security Research, an information and analysis company in San Jose.

Tal, a former military intelligence officer for the Israeli Armed Forces, said local, state and federal agencies have been grappling with the homeland security issue. He said it makes sense to have someone overseeing the operation to determine what needs to be done and what equipment might be necessary to prepare for a possible attack.