Police open substation in area plagued by gangs

Jen Lawson

Friday, Nov. 8, 2002 | 11:02 a.m.

More than 15 gang-related killings happened near Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards in the past two years, and now Metro Police are hoping a new substation will make the area safer.

The Larry C. Bolden Area Command Substation at 1851 Stella Lake St., near Lake Mead and Martin Luther King boulevards, opened Monday.

The 109 officers based at the substation will patrol the area east of Jones Boulevard from Cheyenne Avenue to Desert Inn Road.

"The crime we're dealing with here is violent crime," Capt. Jim Owens, commander of the substation, said. "We have the highest concentration of gang activity in the valley."

Thirty-five percent of all gang-related slayings happen in the Bolden area, Owens said.

A small number of people involved in drugs, gangs and prostitution have given this section of the city a reputation that it doesn't deserve, he said.

"There are a lot of good people who live here," Owens said, adding that he patrolled this section of the city when he joined Metro 15 years ago. "This area has the highest concentration of churches in the city, too."

Dodie Stockwell, manager of the Wellspring Food Distribution Center, stopped into the substation Monday morning to introduce herself and drop off a business card.

Her organization uses the parking lot of New Bethany Family Worship Center at 1229 W. Owens Ave. to distribute groceries to needy families.

"It's something that's really needed here," she said of the substation. "We watched it go from the ground up. It makes us feel a lot better to know it's close by."

Karen Stanford Williams, principal of Charles West-Edison Junior Academy at 2050 Saphire Stone Ave., which is just behind the substation, said she's "delighted" the substation is open.

"It seems like it will be a wonderful working relationship," she said. The school is patrolled by school police, but Metro will be available if a crisis occurs.

Since the Bolden substation is so close to North Las Vegas -- about two blocks away -- Owens said they want to provide a work area for a North Las Vegas Police employee to take reports from citizens who mistakenly stop in to report a crime that happened in North Las Vegas.

However, North Las Vegas Police Lt. Art Redcay said they would like to partner with the officers at the Bolden station, but they do not have enough funds for that now.

A North Las Vegas substation is located in the Buena Vista Springs apartments at Carey Avenue and Martin Luther King, which is near the Bolden station, Redcay pointed out.

A few years ago, Owens said, Metro only had three substations. Now it adds a new substation every three months or so. Each one covers an area of 125,000 residents.

The substation is named after Metro's first black deputy chief, who died in 2000 at age 63. He was a founding member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.

Residents of the neighborhood will be invited to the substation Dec. 3 for the official grand opening. Owens said a big picture of Bolden will hang in the lobby, along with a glass cabinet containing some of his memorabilia.