NHP, public to have more contact

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003 | 9:19 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada Highway Patrol troopers will be making more stops of errant motorists both to increase safety and to evaluate the performance of each officer.

Patrol Chief David Hosmer said this week that troopers will be required "to initiate increased daily public contacts whether or not they issue a citation or an arrest."

A new computer program that will gather the data will also allow the patrol to determine where the accident and danger locations are on highways in the state.

The system provides monthly and year-to-date comparative reports on patrol field enforcement activities, drug arrests and crash analysis.

Kim Evans, public information officer for the state Department of Law Enforcement, said troopers now in the Reno area initiate an average of four stops, give assistance to three stranded motorists and investigate an average of 1.5 crashes daily.

By increasing the "public contacts," Evans said, "we find that enforcement works" and it reduces the "negative driving" of motorists.

There will be different performance levels between the various patrol districts in rural and urban Nevada, she said.

Evans said there is no daily rate for patrol officers in the Las Vegas area now because there is a 40 percent vacancy rate of troopers in Southern Nevada.

"We can't average a number for public contacts," she said because the troopers are already overworked.

The information, she said would also be used to assess the performance of a trooper. "It's a management tool," but Evans added it was not a "quota" system where the officer must ticket so many motorists a day.

Neither Dean Buell, president of the Nevada Highway Patrol Association, nor Gary Wolff, lobbyist for the association, could not be reached for comment.