Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004 | 10:57 a.m.
The Clark County Health District will use off-duty Metro Police officers at future district-sponsored youth gatherings to prevent incidents similar to the fights at a teen anti-smoking event last weekend.
The Health District, following a daylong meeting with county, police and fire officials Monday, determined that while it was exempt from obtaining a special event permit for youth dances, it nevertheless wants to avoid a repeat of Saturday's incident during which five youths were injured and four were arrested.
"In the future, we will work with Metro to determine what security measures should be in place and what they think is a sufficient number of (off-duty) officers to staff the event," Health District spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said.
She maintained, however, that existing laws were followed in not using off-duty Metro officers and that adequate private security was provided for the fourth annual Kick Ash Party at the Events Center, private property at 121 E. Sunset Road at Las Vegas Boulevard. The event drew a crowd of about 2,500.
It was hosted by the Health District and the district-sponsored XPOZ Coalition anti-smoking group and funded by money from the federal tobacco settlement.
The event was broken up by Metro following fist fights in the parking lot and fire extinguishers being set off inside, allegedly by misbehaving youths.
Police said the Health District was required to use off-duty Special Event police officers for the function but did not apply for them until Thursday, which did not give the district enough time to provide insurance and a "hold harmless" agreement for Metro.
Sizemore said there was no effort to circumvent using off-duty police. The $50 per-officer per-hour cost would have been paid by the tobacco money. She said organizers believed at the time that the security staff of 30 for the event was sufficient and that off-duty police were optional.
The Clark County code for teenage dance halls and nightclubs, the ordinance police say applies to Saturday's event, requires one uniformed security guard per 100 people at such events. Based on that rule, the Health District had five more guards than required by county ordinance.
"Actually we had steeper security than in the past," Sizemore said. "Metal detector wands were used and (youths) had to empty their pockets and throw away anything they were not supposed to have."
There are two types of special event permits issued by the county -- one for traffic, the other for alcohol -- and neither applied to the Health District's event, county officials said.
The county Public Works Department did not receive from Metro a request to sign off on a permit addressing ingress or egress concerns or parking, Public Works spokesman Bobby Shelton said. The liquor permit did not apply because the Saturday party-goers were underage.
That left the Health District needing just a fire permit for the event.
Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said the Health District provided fire officials a layout of the facility as required and on Friday was issued a permit for a crowd of up to 3,073.
The process for such events works a little differently in Las Vegas than in unincorporated Clark County.
For events on private property, the city issues a temporary commercial permit at least 10 days before an event, and the city informs Metro Police Special Events that such a permit was pulled, said Jim DiFiore, Las Vegas business licensing manager.
That way, if the promoter fails to contact Metro, police would have plenty of time to contact the permit holder, DiFiore said.
"Contacting Metro Police about events for which we issue permits is part of our check list," DiFiore said, noting that a fire permit also is required.
Sizemore said Monday's discussions regarding Saturday's incident did not result in agencies determining existing county ordinances need to be changed.
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