NLV growth spurs need for more cops

Dan Kulin

Monday, Nov. 3, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.

To ensure the North Las Vegas Police Department keeps pace with the city's projected population growth, the city needs to more than triple its police force and build four or five new police stations -- including a new headquarters -- by 2020 or 2025, according to a consultant's report to be presented to the City Council on Wednesday.

In the coming two years, the department should add 122 officers to the 215 it now has, the report says. Additional officers currently cost the city about $69,000 each, so at that rate the new officers needed by 2005 would cost taxpayers $8.42 million. And a new headquarters building will cost about $42 million, officials said.

Police Chief Mark Paresi said he was unable to put a price tag on everything that the report recommends.

"The growth of the police department might be the most expensive venture for the city," Paresi said.

But it is a necessary expense, he said.

"We are not asking for anything extraordinary. We are asking for the funding to support a quality police department."

Mayor Michael Montandon said that although he hasn't reviewed the report yet, he expected the recommendations would call for adding many more police officers in the coming years. But the mayor said how many of the recommendations will be followed will probably come down to what the city can afford.

"I just don't know the answers of whether we can fund them," the mayor said.

City officials wouldn't discuss how the city might pay for the increases. The city could put a bond measure on the ballot. Population growth in the city could also help defray some of the costs by adding more property tax income.

City Manager Gregory Rose said the report identifies the needs of the department, and now the council has to prioritize the recommendations in the report as well as other city programs and coming projects.

"At this point it's a good guide," Rose said of the report. "All of this is very preliminary and things can change."

Paresi said the document is essentially a business plan, "a guide," for the police department.

The plan cost the city about $50,000 and was put together by private consultants Daniel C. Smith and Associates and KGA Architecture.

Because the proposals are based on the continued rapid growth of the city, Paresi said the plans should be reviewed every five years to see if changes are needed.

The recommendations in the plan are based on the assumption that North Las Vegas will have about 450,000 residents by 2020 or 2025. Today the city has a population of about 138,000.

The proposal calls for a steady expansion of staff and facilities over the next 20 or so years, which Paresi said is the proper way to plan for the future and keep the department from falling behind demands from the public.

"So when the city is built out, we're not dropped a huge price tag. We do a little at a time," Paresi said.

But even the steady and gradual growth plan calls for significant changes in the coming years.

Paresi said the department would probably have to add 25 to 30 officers a year to keep up with the recommendations.

The report says the number of officers should grow to 337 in 2005; 496 in 2010; 638 in 2015; and 825 by 2020 or 2025. The increase would bring the ratio of officers to population from about 1.5 officers per 1,000 residents today to about 1.8 officers per 1,000 residents.

The total number of department employees, including civilian staff, is recommended to go from today's 331 to 1,178 by 2020 or 2025.

Clark County Sheriff Bill Young has also tried to get more police on the street since he took office in January. Young asked the Las Vegas City Council and County Commission in February for enough money to add 389 officers, but instead received funding to pay for 35 new officers.

Young's goal is to increase the number of officers per 1,000 residents to almost 2, still under the national average of 2.5, but higher than the current ratio of about 1.74 officers per 1,000 residents.

Now Young plans to go to the voters in November 2004 for a tax hike to pay for more officers.

However, area voters don't have a strong history of supporting such tax hikes. Henderson voters voted down higher taxes to hire more police in November 2000 and again in May 2001.

Along with the increasing population, police are also dealing with increased crime.

Overall, major crime in North Las Vegas increased 8.4 percent last year, according to an annual FBI crime statistics report.

Among some of the more noticeable crimes, car thefts increased by 16 percent and the number of murders went from 21 in 2001 to 22 last year, according to police and FBI statistics. Overall, the number of violent crimes dropped 4 percent last year, according to FBI figures.

By comparison, major crime increased by 12 percent in Metro Police's jurisdiction and 1.4 percent in Henderson in 2002. Metro saw a 19 percent jump in violent crimes, and violent crimes decreased 13 percent in Henderson, according to FBI statistics.

The North Las Vegas report also calls for an aggressive construction schedule to keep the department growing with the city.

A new police precinct station in the northwest part of the city at Washburn and Allen is included in the proposal. A ground-breaking ceremony is scheduled for mid-November on that station, called the Washburn Community Police Facility, and it is expected to be open in mid to late 2004.

The plan also calls for building a second precinct station and a new police headquarters building by 2007. The report suggests the two buildings be separate, but does address the possibility of locating both in one new building.

Paresi said the current headquarters, built in the 1960s, is too small for the department and difficult to access for the public.

"It is not user friendly," he said.

Rose said the police headquarters is deteriorating. He said the city could "continue to try and Band-Aid it," and he pointed out that the current proposal calls for continuing to use the existing building for another seven years or so.

The consultant's report also calls for building two more precinct stations in 10 or 15 years.

Each station would handle roughly a quarter of the city, between 100,000 and 125,000 residents each, which Paresi said would help police establish closer bonds with residents.

"They will be able to connect with the community. Any larger and you become anonymous," he said.