Little League to mandate background check of coaches

Dan Kulin

Thursday, Oct. 10, 2002 | 11:10 a.m.

For at least 10 years Little League managers and coaches in Clark County have gone through criminal background checks. Now a new mandate from the baseball league's national office will require managers, coaches and all other volunteers be checked against state lists of convicted sex offenders.

Robert Fleming, a top Little League administrator in Clark County for the past 16 years, said the new policy will add to local Little League officials' workload, as county leagues will now have both checks done.

Metro Police officers have done criminal background checks for league officials, sometimes for a fee and sometimes for free, for at least the past 10 years, Fleming said.

"We plan to continue using the police. We want to check on other stuff too, like child abuse and neglect, drugs, and DUIs," Fleming said. "We're just trying to make it safe for the kids."

Mike Aker, administrator of Little League District 4 in Clark County, said the criminal background checks have kept about 10 people, including one convicted sex offender, from managing or coaching here.

The others had convictions for either drunken driving, domestic violence or child abuse, he said.

Fleming, administrator of Little League District 4 in Clark County, said no convicted sex offenders have turned up in their criminal background checks. But "we have asked a few people not to coach" because of what's turned up in a background check, he said.

Fleming said even though a conviction for a sex offense would probably turn up in the background checks the league was already doing, the new policy will probably force the local league to check the official sex offender registry.

The new policy also requires other league volunteers such as umpires, board members and concession stand workers, to be checked against the list of registered sex offenders, Fleming said.

Stephen Keener, president of the national organization Little League Baseball Inc., said the decision to require checks against state lists of convicted sex offenders was partly a response to the sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. Another factor was the availability of sex-offender registries.

In 43 states and the District of Columbia, such information on convicted sex offenders is available over the Internet or from local law enforcement agencies. Information on a few high-risk convicted sex offenders in the Las Vegas-area is available through the Las Vegas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Web site at www.lvicac.com.

Clark County Little Leagues, which include some youths from Nye County, have about 18,000 players and 2,100 managers, coaches and other volunteers, Fleming said.