Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Injured police to help staff dispatch center

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 17:44:31 -0500

Monday, March 10, 2003

Injured police to help staff dispatch center

Sheriff aims to use 'walking wounded,' free up workers to take
emergency calls

By J.M. KALIL
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Sheriff Bill Young knows he won't win friends with his new plan to have police
officers recovering from injuries help at the understaffed dispatch center.

Cops used to packing heat and working the streets might find phone duty
tedious, he says, especially because they will be answering only calls coming in
on the nonemergency 311 line.

But the sheriff jokingly predicts that the dull assignment might spur swifter
recoveries among some of the rank-and-file.

"I believe some medical miracles will occur," Young quipped Tuesday while
discussing the policy he hopes to start later this month.

Joking aside, Young's idea is earnestly aimed at better serving the public.

As soon as next month, officers temporarily assigned to light duty under
doctors' orders will man phone lines at MetroComm, the department's
communications bureau, to free up more dispatchers to concentrate on
emergency 911 calls. Young hopes the move will reduce the time those dialing
for help with a crisis have to wait on hold.

But MetroComm isn't the only area in flux as Young settles into his role as
commander of the Metropolitan Police Department, the largest law
enforcement agency in Nevada and one of the biggest in the nation.

Since he took office two months ago, the 47-year-old sheriff has reorganized
the nearly 4,000-member agency's hierarchy by quietly shuffling assignments
among the top brass and creating and eliminating a few positions.

More recently, he has signaled his intention to bring about much more ambitious
changes that are likely to be noticed by the public.

After spending serious time examining the policies he inherited from former
Sheriff Jerry Keller, Young has his gaze fixed on what he calls the "high-risk,
high-octane" areas of police work: car chases and use of deadly force.

He announced last week that he plans to unveil a more restrictive policy
regarding high-speed vehicle pursuits by the end of this week, a change that
probably will mirror moves under way at police departments across the
country.

Of a dozen large law enforcement agencies surveyed for a study by the Los
Angeles Police Commission, only police in Dallas had a higher rate of vehicle
chases involving collisions in 2001 than Las Vegas police. The study found Las
Vegas police have among the most broad and discretionary rules regarding
high-speed pursuits.

Current department policy allows officers to race after suspects who have
committed minor traffic infractions, misdemeanors or felonies. The policy has no
definitive point at which the chase must end, unless a supervisor orders an
officer to back off.

But regardless of whether the suspect being pursued has killed someone or only
ran a stop sign, the danger to officers, bystanders and the suspects can be
substantial.

"I want young cops to realize the ramifications of driving a motor vehicle on a
city street at 100 mph," Young said.

He has not released details but has confirmed the new policy will include a
restriction of when a chase must end.

After that, the sheriff said he and a team of his top cops will review the
department's use-of-force policy over the next few months to determine
whether it can be improved.

Compared with other large police departments, Las Vegas police have a
relatively high per capita rate of killing suspects.

Metropolitan Police Department officers fatally shot seven people last year and
six in 2001.

The New York Police Department, which has about 20 times as many officers
and serves a population at least six times larger, had 12 fatal police shootings in
2002 and 11 the year prior.

"Those numbers alone are not evidence that any particular shooting has been
unjustified or involved excessive force," said Gary Peck, executive director of
the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada. "But when you see those kinds
of numbers, it's clear there is at least a need to review the use-of-force policies
here."

Metropolitan Police Department policy permits officers to fire weapons "only to
stop and incapacitate an assailant from completing a potentially deadly act."

Young said that sometimes no other way exists to protect citizens and officers
besides using deadly force.

During separate incidents early in his 24-year career, Young shot one suspect
and fired at another. Neither shooting caused death, and Young was found
justified in using deadly force in both instances.

But he thinks some situations occur in which officers should have high-impact
tools other than guns at their disposal.

Patrol officers currently carry low-lethal shotguns, 12-gauges that fire bean-bag
rounds meant to stun suspects until officers can handcuff them. But they
sometimes fail to have any effect on suspects.

The sheriff said he wants to look into acquiring TASERs, stun guns, which fire
fish-hooked probes that deliver a five-second-long, 50,000-volt charge to
whomever they hit. The pain incapacitates subjects through loss of muscle
control, usually forcing them to collapse, but causes no permanent damage.

Officers typically use TASERs in situations that call for more than pepper spray
but less than deadly force.

Peck, a critic of the Keller administration, commended Young for addressing
the issue.

But Peck said he hopes the review would include an examination of how
officers deal with the mentally ill.

Several controversial and high-profile incidents in which police have killed
suspects in recent years have involved people experiencing psychotic episodes
or other mental crises.

There is another reason Young is examining car chases and use-of-force
incidents. Miscalculations in either one can cost taxpayers huge sums in legal
settlements. "I'm looking at ways to limit our liability," Young said.

Fiscal conservatism is something Young wants to project as he asks city and
county officials to boost the department's annual budget 25 percent to $400.5
million for the next fiscal year to keep up with the valley's unending growth and
the new demands of homeland security-related duties.

The Police Department needs to hire nearly 400 commissioned officers to meet
the department's goal of providing two officers per 1,000 residents. The
department has 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents.

As for other areas he will concentrate on, Young said he wants to have more
officers trained and focused on detecting cybercrime, such as identity theft and
frauds perpetrated through the Internet.

"It's just flat killing us," Young said of online crime. "They operate with almost
total immunity."

But whether the new sheriff can effect change in the department remains to be
seen.

The first test of how well he can transform parts of the agency may be whether
his MetroComm idea saves the department money and boosts efficiency.

Young ran the emergency dispatch center in 1986 and 1987, when the number
of citizens in the Police Department's jurisdiction was a fraction of today's
levels.

At that time, dispatchers were able to answer about 85 percent of all 911 calls
in under 10 seconds.

Nationally, 90 percent of people who dial 911 wait on hold less than 10
seconds, a standard that most emergency agencies aim for.

When Young took office in January, the department's average was hovering at
60 percent.

"I found it unbelievable how poor we were doing with it," Young said. "If the
public can't communicate with us, what good are we?"

He immediately authorized overtime pay to have more dispatchers working
during peak call times, and dispatchers are answering about 88 percent of calls
in under 10 seconds.

He still hopes to slash the amount the department is spending on overtime pay
by moving in the light-duty officers.

But not all injured officers will answer calls.

The majority of employees injured on the job or off are on light duty only for a
day or two.

Training to man 311 lines takes about 40 hours, so it won't be worth the time to
train officers who are on light-duty for a few days only.

Also, officers with permanent disabilities will not be moved into phone duty.

"I'm looking at the medium-range injuries," Young said. "I call them the walking
wounded."

As of last week, 50 officers were restricted by doctors from performing full
duty for more than 30 days but not permanently, said Moreen Lasiter, the
department's health and safety manager.

The Police Department typically rotates such officers into one of the agency's
160 nonexecutive administrative jobs that are not physically demanding.

"What we want to do for our light-duty officers is take them out of harm's way"
while they recuperate, Lasiter said.

Young said he thinks some of those assignments fail to make the most of their
police training. Typically, he said, the officers will man front desks at area
commands or help clerical workers.

"They give them busy work a lot of the time," he said.

Keeping enough workers to staff the dispatch center has proved a challenge in
the past.

Deputy Chief Dennis Cobb, who has overseen MetroComm since January,
said the Police Department seeks applicants able to keep their cool during
crises. But about 15 percent of dispatchers who complete the tense and
rigorous training resign shortly after starting work.

"It takes a special kind of person to be on the phone listening to someone
screaming that their throat has been cut," Cobb said. "It's a different kind of
skills set."

Terri Yada, vice president of the union that represents the Police Department's
more than 1,000 civilian employees, said the union supports the development
because it does not appear to threaten dispatchers' jobs or slow civilian hiring.

"We need the phones answered in a timely manner, and they could use the
help," Yada said.

Find this article at:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Mar-10-Mon-2003/news/20817452.html

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