Metro keeps pace with growth, but still behind on officer ratio

Jace Radke

Monday, May 24, 2004 | 9:22 a.m.

The hiring of Metro Police officers and civilian staffers has kept pace with the growing population of Clark County since 1999, according to an efficiency study scheduled to be presented at a meeting this morning.

The study, conducted by the Matrix Consulting Group, a firm hired by Metro to look at the department's productivity, was to be discussed at today's police fiscal affairs meeting, Sheriff Bill Young said.

The study found that while the population of the county has grown about 20 percent over the last four years, Metro increased its number of officers by more than 21 percent and the number of civilian employees by more than 29 percent.

Metro officials say that while they may have been able to keep pace with population growth since 1999, they began the period in an officer shortage that's persisted despite the recent hires.

"We were way behind, and we've never caught up," Young said. "We've never been able to get to the level of two cops per 1000 people that we've been aiming for."

Metro has about 1.7 officers per 1,000 people, less than the national average of 2.5 officers per 1,000 people, said Sgt. Rick Barela, a Metro spokesman.

Young said that when the county's tourist population is figured in, the actual ratio drops to about 1.5 officers per 1,000.

In response to these shortcomings Young said he plans to ask the fiscal affairs committee to request that a question be placed on the November ballot asking voters if they want a sales tax increase of a quarter cent on each dollar of goods purchased to fund additional officers for Metro, Henderson and North Las Vegas Police.

The tax would bump up to a half cent in the fifth year, if the question passes and the Legislature crafts the laws needed to implement it, Young said.

"By using sales tax, it spreads it out more evenly to everyone including tourists," Young said.

Young estimated that the increase would cost the average Clark County citizen about $12.50 a year, and about $25 a year after it bumps up in the fifth year.