Metro seeks audit to aid in push for more funds

Jen Lawson

Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2003 | 9:41 a.m.

Sheriff Bill Young plans to seek funding next week for an audit of Metro Police, and he hopes the results will help him convince the public to vote for a tax hike to pay for more officers.

Auditors would examine everthing from staffing levels and finances to productivity, case loads and calls for service, Undersheriff Doug Gillespie said.

"We are in the process of preparing to go before the public for a ballot initiative in the fall of '04," Gillespie said. "We feel having an audit done at this time by someone not in this organization will give the public an overall understanding of the needs of our organization.

"This is a fairly involved audit process. It will look at the organization from top to bottom," Gillespie said. "This audit will show we need the officers that we say we need."

Young, who is out of town this week, is scheduled to ask Metro's financial oversight committee to approve funding for the audit. The committee is composed of four city and county officials and one member of the public.

The cost of the audit hasn't been determined, but a similar study conducted in 1999, while Sheriff Jerry Keller was in office, cost about $90,000, Gillespie said.

That audit was ordered by the Las Vegas City Council during a contentious 1998-1999 Metro budget request. Auditors came back with praise for the department, commending Metro officials on their leadership and strategic thinking.

The department could award a contract to a private auditing company before the end of the year, with the audit to begin in early January 2004. It would be completed and submitted to Metro officials in early April.

Putting more cops on the street has been a priority for Young since he took office in January. Young asked the City Council and the County Commission in February to increase Metro's budget by 25 percent, or $400 million, which would pay for 389 new officers.

But the money didn't come through; he received funding to pay for 35 new officers this year.

His goal was to boost the number of officers per 1,000 residents. Had he received the funds he wanted, the ratio would have increased from 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents to 1.97, still below the national average of 2.5.

Since then, more people have moved to Clark County, sending the ratio of cops to 1.67 per 1,000 residents, Young has said.

But the audit will do more than just bolster Young's case for a property tax increase, Gillespie said; Metro brass will also use the results to learn where they can improve.

Young feels that because Metro has new leadership, "it would be good for the organization itself to have a look-over" by a private company "to make sure Metro is as streamlined as auditors said it was in 1999, Gillespie said.

"We anticipate this report will speak highly of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department," he said. "However, we also acknowledge the fact that we are looking to (the auditors) for guidance in areas where we may need improvement."

Like the 1999 audit, the upcoming one is expected to look at a variety of areas, including strategic planning, response times, crime solve rates, financial expenditures, staffing levels, allocation of personnel, productivity, recruitment, training, work loads, traffic enforcement, policing philosophies, calls to service and utilization of civilian staff.

It will scrutinize the department's operations, but also its management, Gillespie said, "meaning, is the organization being forward-thinking in how they are handling issues in the Las Vegas Valley?"

The audit will not address policies, such as the department's use of force or pursuit policies, Gillespie said. Such issues are audited by a variety of entities, including the federal government, he said.