Fresh troopers ready to hit the highway

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2003 | 11 a.m.

The first batch of Nevada Highway Patrol troopers to be hired in Southern Nevada in two years is preparing to hit the road, and patrol authorities are hoping this will be the first step in fixing the longtime trooper shortage.

If things go as planned, the Las Vegas Valley will have 30 to 36 new troopers on the road by the end of 2004, officials said. Sixty trooper and traffic sergeant positions are vacant in Southern Nevada.

"We're filling the gaps," Trooper Angie Wolff, spokeswoman for the Highway Patrol in Las Vegas, said. "The morale is up, and the troopers see that relief is in sight."

Hiring isn't the problem -- it's retention, Wolff said. Entry-level troopers earn about $10,000 less than other police agencies in the Las Vegas Valley, and many were leaving the Highway Patrol for higher paying jobs with Metro, North Las Vegas or Henderson police departments, Wolff said.

The academy had been more of a traditional police academy, which made it easy for troopers to get jobs with local police departments after working at the Highway Patrol for a few years.

To fix that, officials suspended the academy in early 2002 and revamped the curriculum to make it more focused on traffic safety, Lt. Phil Dart said. It reopened last summer.

During that time, fewer than 20 troopers statewide graduated from the academy.

The first group of new troopers to graduate since the academy was suspended began field training Nov. 10. That training involves riding along with experienced troopers to learn the ropes. The rookies are expected to be on their own by the end of the year.

Another 22-week academy session begins Feb. 8. Nineteen of those troopers are slated to work in Las Vegas.

And on Feb. 27, a lateral academy for those who have law enforcement experience will begin, and seven of those will be assigned to Las Vegas.

One has more than 20 years of experience with the Los Angeles Police Department and three have 10 years of experience working at police departments in Hawaii, Montana and New Mexico, Wolff said.

These new hires will help, but they're not enough, authorities said.

"While we anxiously await and will appreciate the new personnel," Major Phil Tilt wrote in an October statistical report, "we still have a long way to go to get this command to adequate staffing levels."

Despite the high vacancy rate, Las Vegas area troopers have increased their number of traffic stops, the report shows. Troopers wrote 42 percent more speeding tickets in October 2003 than they did in October 2002.

Last October, 47 trooper positions were vacant.

Crashes on state roadways increased by 16 percent during that time, but there were 44 percent fewer fatal crashes, the report says.