Area eyes plan to curb crime

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, March 12, 2003 | 11:12 a.m.

Louis Conner remembers West Las Vegas before the Rodney King riots 11 years ago.

"This was a quiet, laid-back neighborhood," said Conner, who has owned Seven Seas Restaurant and Lounge at 808 W. Lake Mead Blvd., near Martin Luther King Boulevard, for 23 years. There was some crime, he said, but it was on a smaller scale.

The burning and looting that followed the April 29, 1992, acquittals of four white Los Angeles police officers in the beating of King turned the neighborhood into a blighted area plagued by gangs, drugs, abandoned homes and closed businesses, he said.

But residents said crime has dropped following the opening in November of Metro's Larry C. Bolden Area Command Substation, near Lake Mead and Martin Luther King boulevards, and they're hoping a new program that would help relocate people who witness and report crimes will restore the neighborhood to what it used to be.

The program is in the planning stage with no solid start date, but the idea is to encourage people to report crime and testify in court by giving them $20,000 to $25,000 to move out of the area if they fear retaliation.

"Every time a crime is committed in this community, everyone knows about it, but sometimes they're afraid to report it," said Elgin Simpson, chairman of the newly formed citizens advisory council for the neighborhood that the Bolden substation covers.

The substation covers an area that includes West Las Vegas -- from Jones Boulevard to Interstate 15 between Cheyenne Avenue and Desert Inn Road. Capt. James Owens said 108 officers split between three shifts are assigned to the area.

"We want to reduce violent crime, and we think this is a way we can get it done," Simpson said. "We believe we can get some of the young people involved in criminal activity to turn on each other."

The citizens' advisory council, formed to create a relationship between Metro and the community with the goal of reducing crime, plans to raise the money through pledges from business owners and residents.

This program would work in conjunction with Metro's Crime Stoppers program, which gives rewards of $250 to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of criminals.

On Tuesday at the West Las Vegas Library Theatre, officers assigned to Metro's Bolden substation and business owners discussed crime.

Conner, an advisory council member, said the Bolden substation has made a noticeable difference in the crime rate in the area, which was known for gang shootings.

More than 15 gang-related killings happened near Lake Mead and Martin Luther King boulevards in the past two and a half years, with most occurring in 2001. The graffiti-covered neighborhood was gripped with fear.

"Business revenue kept decreasing because people didn't want to come back into the area," he said. "They were afraid for their lives."

The gang wars have dropped off, but gangs continue to be a problem in Las Vegas, Officer Allen Johnson of Metro's gang crimes unit said at the meeting, even though their numbers are decreasing compared with the population.

In 1997 there was one gang member for every 200 Las Vegas residents. In 2002 there was one gang member for every 230 residents, Johnson said.

There were 6,660 documented gang members in 2001 and 6,876 in 2002.

Forty-five gang members were killed in 2002, Johnson said. One gang member has been killed this year.

Terry Lamon, a funeral director at Palm Mortuary, 1325 N. Main St., said his funeral home handles five or six gang funerals a year. Sometimes rival gang members come to the funeral home, which can be scary, Lamon said.

Mortuary officials call Metro's gang unit whenever a gang member's funeral is scheduled and plainclothes officers keep an eye on things, Lamon said.

He noticed a drop in gang funerals in the past few years, he said, which he attributes to Metro's attentiveness to the area and cooperation with businesses and residents.

"We're doing something right," he said.