Federal push for more police training may be constrained by costs

Sheriff Doug Gillespie will try to adopt the Justice Department's recommendations amid a dire budgetary picture.

His agency's projected budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year faces a $46 million shortfall because of a collapse in property tax revenue, and the sheriff has said he can't cut any more police and still keep a handle on the rising crime rate.

But if Gillespie wants to institute the reforms, as he said he wants to, more money and manpower will be needed.

The Justice Department's suggestions include expanding training in a variety of ways. Some, such as requiring "fair and impartial policing" training designed to eliminate subconscious racial biases among officers, would affect nearly every officer in the department.

Others are more specific. The federal agency recommends auditing trainers, giving instructors additional training and requiring a recertification process for officers trained in crisis intervention.

Some of those things don't come cheap, but the sheriff said he won't let that stop him.

"I was asked earlier … the budget constraints that you're under, is that going to keep you from doing what it is you need to do? And my response is, 'No,' " Gillespie said.

He said it's too early to estimate the cost, but he will make do by shuffling resources toward training, if needed.

He will receive little help from the city of Las Vegas and Clark County, which funds about 70 percent of the department's $502 million operating budget. Both face their own fiscal constraints.

Elected officials with both local governments have warned that $46 million to close the gap in next year's budget is a long shot.

The department already has seen some use of force issues hit by the budget crisis. For about a year and a half, a handful of homicide detectives had been devoted to investigating officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths.

But in April, citing "manpower issues," the squad was disbanded, and detectives went back to handling the incidents on a rotating basis, with other investigations.

The Justice Department said they should bring the team back and give members additional training.

Gillespie said that while his agency can't afford significant shifts in manpower, this change wouldn't be a significant burden.

He said he is unsure whether it's needed, however. He said his detectives are doing fine covering both officer-involved shootings and homicides.

Justice Department officials stressed that the estimated $350,000 cost of their study, covered by a federal grant, was a fraction of the cost and took less than half the time of an investigation by the DOJ's Civil Rights Division.

Those investigations, which often end in a lawsuit against a department, are the more common approach in altering police behavior.

Bernard Melekian, director of the Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), said Detroit spent more than $1 million a year defending a Civil Rights Division investigation.

The cost to the Metropolitan Police Department was nothing, beyond officers' time talking to investigators and compiling records.

Gillespie said accepting the agency's offer for help saved taxpayers money.

"By reaching out to the COPS office ... I believe we've saved the department and this community millions, because if you wait and Civil Rights (Division) comes in, that's exactly what it costs," he said.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-405-9781.