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By Jackie Valley (contact) 
Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 | 2 a.m.
Retired Metro Police Officer Raymond Berni won’t forget his proudest moments on the force during his 35 years of service patrolling the streets of Las Vegas. There was the sentimental: doing a ride-along with his daughter, Candice, who extended the family’s deep law enforcement history by becoming an officer like her father, grandfather and great-grandfather. And then there was the exhilarating: catching John Edward Bruce, a seven-time convicted felon, in the mid-1980s and recovering 97 illegal weapons, one of the biggest gun seizures in the department’s history. “I’ll never forget that name,” Berni said. It’s unlikely many will forget Berni’s ...
We have way too many chiefs and not enough indians. We don't need all those cushy admin positions: high salaries and benefits, great retirement benefits.
Metro should start hiring people with a college education. That way their officers won't keep making the same dumb mistakes.
this article makes no sense---maybe this guy was a good cop--i don't know---but there always seems to be 10K guys waiting to get into the police and fire departments because the pay and benefits is near the top in the country---so stop trying to make this what it is not--there is no shortage of people to take his spot!
same with the fire chief that just retired--he will probably pull in 200k paid by the taxpayers after a cushy "career"---im not very nostalgic for these guys leaving after the huge compensation packages they are cashing in.
the difference is, the police probably deserve the pay and package, while the firefighters are really raping the system and do very little in return. I can understand the cops getting paid--that has to be 10X more stress and aggravation than washing the fire truck all day!
Vegas area has turned into a tough town. Sooooo many illegals and convicts on-the-run from elsewhere seek refuge here. We also have the home-grown "loons." We EXPECT officers to be social workers while they're doing everything else. While I agree that Metro officers are essential and deserve a living wage. Metro officers do deserve a pay scale ABOVE K-12 teachers so let's not even go there. For Metro pay scales, I'd be OK with the 10% across-the-board cuts we demand from all government employees. But unlike with firefighters, I'd await competent surveys of new pay scales in "similar" jurisdictions before cutting further. Firefighters can take cuts RIGHT NOW.
both comments are good ones. Instead of looking for people with military or security guard backgrounds, hire people with masters degrees and phds they are out there unemployed.
They could hire police from China too. They would work for less and would have more respect for human rights than the current breed of Metro cops.
Be wary, be very wary of any operation that says they are unable (incapable?) of training from within, promoting from within. If your operation is so deficient that you cannot train and promote with confidence....start over, completely over with a new organization.
In this economy, everyone is replaceable and for half the price. The greedy companies would pay less than minimum wage if it was legal.
Being a cop in Las Vegas has to be a very demanding job. Who wants to deal with drunk, stupid tourists 24 hours a day ?
@Summerof69.."Who wants to deal with drunk, stupid tourists 24 hours a day ?" Nobody deals with these people 24 hours a day. And most cops don't deal with them at all. However casino employees deal with them all the time, and they are never allowed to shoot a single one in the back.