Crime wave strikes near UNLV

      A rash of violent crimes has hit the neighborhoods surrounding UNLV in the past eight months, leaving some residents wondering how safe they are in their homes.
      In the last year, th ere have been at least nine homicides in the area immediately surrounding the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus. All happened within the past eight months.
      Residents of the area -- bordered by Maryland Parkway to th e east, Paradise Road to the west, Flamingo Road to the north and Tropicana Avenue to the south -- say concerns about violence in their neighborhoods have heightened following the attacks.
      --In August, Keith Dyer, 22, w as shot to death and a 17-year-old girl was shot in the leg as Dyer walked her home near the intersection of Tropicana and Maryland. Police say there was no apparent motive in the shooting, which may have been carried out by gang members.
       --A month later, on Palo Verde Circle, 60-year-old Kathleen Flynn was stabbed to death in her bed as she slept. Her 11-year-old grandson was stabbed in the head but survived. Police said the motive was random robbery.
  & #160;   --Another case involves Judy Fox, 51, who disappeared near Tropicana and Eastern avenues in September as she played video poker. Police believe she was taken against her will. Fox has never been found.
      ; --Four months later, Alberto Tayag, 63, fatally shot his two sons-in-law in the Von's parking lot at the intersection of Tropicana and Maryland.
      --Just weeks after the double-killing, a Las Vegas police officer was s hot in the chest and another man was wounded in a gun battle off Reno Avenue.
      Dyer's shooting happened just a few doors down from Leslie Rutchik's apartment, leaving the 26-year-old UNLV student shaken.
   ;    The list of slayings -- in a densely populated area within walking distance from the campus -- also alarms Rutchik, who says she is trying to keep the killings in the proper perspective.
      "I carry pe pper spray and I try to stay at home at night as much as possible," Rutchik said. "I'm relatively new to this area, but my perception is that it is not all like this. I have friends, though, who say they would never live here."
     ;  Amy Cox, a mother of two who lives near the intersection of Maryland and Tropicana, says she is terrified about the recent episodes of violence.
      "I never walk alone at night, or if I have to, I'm always watchin g my back," Cox said. "Within the last two years it has gotten really bad. There have been a lot of gangs cropping up everywhere."
      Despite the killings, some southeast Las Vegas residents are slow to believe the recent violent crimes are part of a dangerous trend. They said that many times victims of violent crime choose to put themselves at risk.
      "I don't see it as much of a problem, not as much as a lot of other people do," said Ste phen Bond, who lives in the Ashton Park apartments at the intersection of University Avenue and Escondido Street. "Crime is going to happen anywhere, and you have to remember, usually crime finds the people who are looking for it."
   & #160;  Las Vegas police statistics show that some types of violent crimes increased in the areas surrounding UNLV from 1995 to 1996. However, overall crime is down in the same region.
      Police Lt. Wayne Petersen sai d in the Southeast Area Command -- which includes UNLV, as well as a large area extending from the campus -- there were 38 homicides in 1996. That was the second highest tally in the Las Vegas Valley, one death behind the northeast portion of Las Vegas. T he fewest number of homicides per area command, 21, was reported downtown. Last year was the first in which police broke down homicides statistically per area command, Petersen said.
      However, Petersen cautions that the statistics don't necessarily indicate the levels of violence in areas surrounding UNLV. He said the Southeast Area Command is the largest in Las Vegas geographically and would naturally involve a disproportionately larger number of killings. And trying to identify patterns in the analysis of homicides is not an exact science.
      "It is real hard to identify trends because there are so many other factors that go into homicides," said Petersen, noting that variables such as domestic violence, gang populations and unpredictable, erratic behavior all contribute to the confusing mix.
      Statistics show that while violent assaults increased in the neighborhoods surrounding UNLV from 1995 to 1996, crime in the area decreased. Robberies were down 38 percent, and declin es were seen in rapes, kidnappings, child molestations and larcenies, according to numbers from the Las Vegas police database.
      But regardless of the statistics, many students and others who live near the campus are unea sy with the violence they see in their neighborhoods.
      "I had someone in my class tell me I live in the ghetto," Rutchik said, noting that because she doesn't have a car, she needs to live near campus. "A lot of people w ho I go to school with don't live here, but they make a lot of comments about how bad the neighborhood is. I have to remind them that I'm only four blocks from the campus and they (visit her apartment) every day."
      Cox's biggest concern is what she believes has been an explosion of gang activity within the last two years, specifically around Maryland and Tropicana. She said the neighborhood needs more help from law enforcement in combatting gangs.
   & #160;  "I started to believe my (11-year-old) son was getting involved in a gang ... he was skipping school, and the cops told me they couldn't do anything," Cox said. "They said they couldn't do anything unless there was criminal activity or if he was a victim."
      But Cox concedes police alone can't solve the gang problems in her neighborhood.
      "It seems like a lot of parents have just thrown their hands in the air and given up," she said.
      Las Vegas police Capt. Terry Lesney, who heads Southeast Area Command, said police have been focusing their most recent efforts on crimes against property, such as burglaries and larcenies.
  
60;   "We have been consistently having the highest number of burglaries east of Maryland Parkway through Boulder Highway, where it is mostly residential," Lesney said. "When it comes to homicides, they most often cannot be predicted and we rea lly can't prevent them. ... But what we can and have been doing to prevent violence is addressing some of the nuisance calls, disturbance, the domestic (violence), large gatherings, narcotics sales."
      Lesney said some of the more violent cases that have popped up near campus may be attributable to the transient population moving in and out of low-income housing.
      "Many of the problems we encounter stem from areas of housing where a high deposit isn't required or where they have weekly or monthly rentals," Lesney said. "But we have found the majority of apartment owners and managers are very helpful to us."
      Yet perceptions of an increase in crime in th e areas surrounding UNLV have not translated into a decline in real estate values in the last four years. According to the La Jolla, Calif.-based company Acxiom/DataQuick Information Systems, the median price for residential properties in the neighborhood s surrounding the campus have gradually increased since 1992. That year, the median price of the area's residential homes was $77,950. In 1996, the median price was $95,990, according to the company, which tracks statistics for the real estate industry. < br>      Lesney described relations between Las Vegas police and campus law enforcement as excellent, noting the two agencies often talk if either has concerns about crime trends.
      Cox said poli ce should concentrate less on property crimes and start rooting through what she described as troubled housing complexes to tackle narcotics and gangs.
      "Sure, property crimes are serious and there are people who get hur t because of them," Cox said, "but you can replace a stereo or television. You can't replace a life."