Editorial: Clean up corruption

Tuesday, May 22, 2007 | 7:57 a.m.

If it hasn't been clear, politicians should take note: The public is sick of corruption.

Metro Police have seen an increase in tips about corruption, which is the result of public disgust in the aftermath of the high-profile federal G-Sting prosecutions that netted four former Clark County commissioners. As Tony Cook reported in Sunday's Las Vegas Sun, police have been busy in an area they normally don't touch, launching four high-profile corruption investigations recently. Metro officials, however, are almost apologetic about the new line of work.

"I really want to make it clear - we have not chosen to go seek out political corruption," Metro Deputy Chief Bob Chinn told the Sun.

Police have an inherent problem with corruption cases - the elected leaders who may be the subject of investigations may also oversee police budgets, and that makes such investigations politically tricky. That is one reason why the FBI takes the lead in corruption cases. Of course, with few resources and added responsibility in the post-9/11 world, federal officials tend to go after only the biggest corruption cases.

Typically, federal prosecutors have made a public corruption case about once a decade in Nevada, making an example of some illegal behavior by politicians. Meanwhile, other cases have been left untouched because of a lack of resources or local police departments' fear of getting tangled in politics.

The public, however, doesn't care about that. People want, and deserve, clean government.

Metro's involvement, in addition to federal investigations, is important in the effort to assure citizens that government is operating aboveboard. Although corruption cases initially bring public cynicism of government, increased scrutiny will hopefully result in renewed public trust as corruption is rooted out.