Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
By Jackie Valley (contact) 
Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012 | 2:40 p.m.
Sheriff Doug Gillespie
A new Justice Department program will examine 20 years of use-of-force incidents by Metro Police, ultimately recommending best practices for the agency, officials announced Thursday.
Bernard Melekian, director of the Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), said Sheriff Doug Gillespie approached federal officials several months ago, seeking guidance about use-of-force issues.
Public outcry and calls for reform regarding use of force by Metro Police hit a crescendo with the 2010 police killings of Trevon Cole and Erik Scott. Just last month, Metro’s Fiscal Affairs Committee approved a $1.7 million settlement to the family of Cole, who was shot by police while unarmed in his apartment bathroom.
The new initiative, loosely titled Outreach and Assistance, falls within the existing COPS program and will cater to local law enforcement agencies that voluntarily seek help with any policing issues, Melekian said.
Metro is the first department enrolled in the program, which relies on national law enforcement experts, many whom are former police officers, he said.
“We have an understanding of what the agencies are facing,” paired with a broader national perspective as part of the Justice Department, Melekian said.
Officials from the program have been in Las Vegas for two days, meeting with Metro’s command staff and beginning to examine cases, Melekian said.
“I think this is a real opportunity for the Department of Justice to really provide some direct, meaningful assistance to local law enforcement, above and beyond grants,” he said.
Melekian expects the program to eventually generate a report listing best practices for use of force by officers, which could be applied nationally as well, he said.
“What the exact nature of that will be, I don’t know,” he said. “It’s too early to tell.”
The federal program will review procedures, make on-site visits and incorporate community feedback into the evaluation, in addition to the case analyses, officials said.
The group also will include crime and justice analysts, federal representatives and community leaders.
“This is a proactive step that our department initiated to properly address community concerns about police use of force,” Gillespie said in a statement released Thursday.
“This is a rare opportunity for us to have independent experts look at the big picture and give us the critical analysis and support needed to make this organization even stronger,” he said.
Gillespie also announced the creation of the Office of Internal Oversight, which will serve as a liaison between Metro and the federal program to act on any recommendations that result.
Capt. Kirk Primas, previously of Metro’s organizational development bureau, will head the new office.
The program’s findings and recommendations will be available to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, which Gillespie met with earlier this week, officials said.
Best practices:
Don't shoot unarmed people.
Don't shoot people who aren't threatening you (Erik Scott, Trevon Cole, Stanley Gibson)
Don't beat innocent citizens in their driveways (Mitchell Crooks)
Seems to me Dirty Doug Gillespie managed to turn what should be a Seattle style DOJ investigation of Metro into a Federal whitewashing of Metro's many sins.
There are cops on the job in this city today who should be rotting in jail for murder. The RJ's expose on Metro clearly exposed one probable serial killer who used his badge to get away with multiple murders.
No one in Metro will catch any kind of heat off of this DOJ farce. We'll get a fancy report that talks about the "good ways" Metro kills people. I guarantee Brian Yant's name isn't mentioned once in the report.
"Sheriff Doug Gillespie approached federal officials several months ago, seeking guidance about use-of-force issues. . . . . Metro is the first department enrolled in the program, which relies on national law enforcement experts, many whom are former police officers. . ."
This appears to be a sure sign our local elected officials have failed to control it's bullies with badges, starting with our Sheriff. Is this his admission he can't control his own corner of local government? Part of the blame must be shared by Metro's other elected bosses, the County Commissioners.
I also see there are no civil liberties representatives. I fear it's just more of the same, our police being militarized and put out of citizens' control. Check Radley Balko's excellent piece "Overkill: : The Latest Trend in Policing" @ http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_...
"Indifference to personal liberty is but the precursor of the State's hostility to it." -- United States v. Penn, 647 F.2d 876 (9th Circuit, 1980), Judge Kennedy dissenting
If Sheriff Doug went to them first, then one can't help but wonder if this will be a whitewash.
The time has long passed for a civilian review board of some kind to oversee our police.
"SMOKE AND MIRRORS" PEOPLE. Gillespie is tap dancing to try to take the focus away from his department by steering it towards a TRAINING ISSUE instead of a CRIMINAL ISSUE. I mean what did he say to this training division? "Well Gee...something must be wrong..we just can't seem to stop killing people and we think after 38 years, we need to be trained better". What a bunch of BS. If Gillespie wants to make a difference, then he need to arrest those officers that have murdered citizens and then stand tall for criminal conspiracy charges to be brought against him. Try taking responsibility for your actions and the actions of your troops instead of playing DUMB.
"The time has long passed for a civilian review board of some kind to oversee our police."
boftx -- all it takes is a small group of dedicated citizens who would just do it. They would not need anybody's permission.
Like that would happen with We the herd.
"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." -- Abraham Lincoln, first inaugural address, 1861
once again boftx and killerB yelling about the police...ok so they went to in independent company to look at them,...the last shooting on fremont street the guy ended up having felony escape warrants...and metro has a civilian review board...so what more can you guys expect...by the way...the coroners review process is one of the most open fact finding thing in the country...or do you want what most departments have...the DA comes in and says its ok and thats it...no information released to the public...takes about a day or so and done...i obey the laws and dont seem to have any problems that you complain about killerb...have you ever thought maybe its just you???
@notfromhere06...
"i obey the laws and dont seem to have any problems that you complain about killerb...have you ever thought maybe its just you???"
Pretty sure it's 'not just them'.
Why do you suppose the Fed's have come to town?
Because Sheriff Doug 'invited' them'?
Oh, please.
This INVESTIGATION into Metro's shoots, good, bad, whatever...is A LONG TIME COMING, and this community deserves to have an independent set of eyes figure out why we have what APPEARS TO BE a modus operandi of using LETHAL FORCE to solve problems that, IN SOME CASES, have the appearance of being solvable without killing the suspects.
TRUST is essential between a community and it's LEO's.
We have precious little of that here.
@Not from here. In the shooting that you are refering to the person's warrants were discovered only after he was shot. The officers had no knowledge of those warrants when the first encountered him. I welcome the review by the COPS team from the DOJ. The Civil Rights Division still hasn't made a decision on conducting an investigation. The ACLU and the NAACP sent a copy of the RJ series when they sent their petition to the DOJ. I think that Metro will not be able to whitewash this investigation. There is too much background knowledge and if the DOJ even suspects that Metro is not cooperating completely, the Civil Rights Divsion can open an investigation, and get whatever they need. I would also suspect that the new DA is going to do an indepth review of all OIS for the past 16 months, and other selected cases, (Yant) so we shall see.
The Use of Force Board is almost as good as the old Inquest System in protecting officers. Since 1990 510 cases have been presented and 497 have found the officers justified. The Citizen Review Board is almost the same statistics. The only person who can file a complaint with the Citizen Review Board is the victim of the action or the family is the victim was killed.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/deadly-force/sl...
This is like hoping your dog won't crap in the house, or outside, too. Welcome to Tombstone, Nevada. Watch out for your cajones, too. A stinking joke-"I went to high school, and now I can "keel you", and get away with it". Nice...
The first question someone needs to ask the Department of Justice, is what took so long.
The COPS visit seems to focus on training issues. They certainly don't need to come to LV to develop a list of best practices for Officer involved shootings. What do they need to actually visit for to do that? To provide instruction on the best practices to avoid culpability for shooting unarmed people?
Don't we have anyone left in any department of any level of our government anywhere who who is interested in actually holding people accountable, other than the ones who have no means to defend themselves?
Excuse me I have to go get sick. Again.
They need to start sending these cops to prison. maybe that will slow them down. Mr. Gillespie needs to step down.
So Doug is asking gun-runners and gun-runner-cover-uppers - at the DOJ - how to improve civil rights issues in LV Metro?
That's like asking a crack head how to get clean & sober!
Memo to Doug: (10 Step Program) 1. Accountability! 2. Revamp your chase policy like every major LE department in the Nation did - circa 1992! 3. Use of force training for all new hires and rank/file. 4.Use of force training for all new hires and rank/file. 5.Use of force training for all new hires and rank/file.6.Use of force training for all new hires and rank/file. 7.Use of force training for all new hires and rank/file. 8.Use of force training for all new hires and rank/file. 9.Use of force training for all new hires and the entire Metro rank/file. and lastly
NUMBER 10 -
Fire those who refuse to follow the dammm policies!
"Mr. Gillespie needs to step down."
Wolfdog -- actually he can be recalled, like any other elected official. Or be Constitutionally impeached, which would go before the Senate. All it takes is enough people working together to get it done.
"Fire those who refuse to follow the dammm policies!"
doubledown_d -- essentially what you're seeing is that particular herd needs to be culled. And I would definitely go along with that.
"...our sense of fair play which dictates a fair state-individual balance by requiring the government to leave the individual alone until good cause is shown for disturbing him and by requiring the government in its contest with the individual to shoulder the entire load..." -- Murphy v. Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, 378 U.S. 52, 55 (1964)