Patrolling on Las Vegas’ 4th: Drugs, car theft, mental cases — then came fireworks

While many in the valley got the day off for the Fourth of July on Friday, Las Vegas police officers David Rosas and Grant Riley were busy patrolling the streets.

Patrol officers like Rosas and Riley do the bread-and-butter police work, and only the “9-5 types” ever get extra days off for holidays, said one officer from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Southeast Area Command.

But it wasn’t just a normal day. Rosas and Riley responded to more noise, fireworks and domestic violence calls than on a typical evening shift.

“On any holiday where there’s alcohol, we’ll see a lot of domestic calls,” Riley said.

But it’s nothing the officers can’t handle. Rosas and Riley work out of the Southeast Area Command center on Harmon Avenue near Sandhill Road, and patrol the “Henry-King area” from Boulder Highway to Maryland Parkway, between Sahara Avenue and Henderson. The officers worked the swing shift on Friday, starting in the afternoon and getting off past midnight.

“It’s never a dull moment on Boulder Highway,” Rosas said, adding that weekly apartments dotting Boulder Highway are known for high crime rates.

Officers have been doubled up because of recent police radio problems, and throughout the day the men pointed out that they couldn’t understand dispatch calls.

Luckily, they get along pretty well. The boys in brown chatted amicably as they rode around, joking about movies and cars and showing off pictures of their families.

And they never stopped getting calls.

A BUSY DAY

One of the first events they were sent to on Friday was a domestic argument. A drunken man was threatening his neighbors in a central valley apartment complex and throwing bottles into the air. The people who called it in said he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

He didn’t hit anyone, so there isn’t a crime. The officers just wanted to evaluate him and see whether he needed medical treatment, but he ran off with some belongings before they arrived.

A short time later, the officers responded to another domestic dispute call. A couple were arguing in a stairwell in an apartment complex on East Flamingo Road. When the officers arrived they found the man sitting in a car and crying. They split up and talked to the man and woman separately, then they focused on the man.

“Don’t follow her. Just let her walk away,” Rosas told the man.

“Try to have a better Fourth of July. Go celebrate with some friends and family,” Riley instructed him. Then he added a warning. “We’re not going to be gentlemen next time we come around. We have zero tolerance for domestic violence. Someone will get arrested.”

COMMUNITY-DRIVEN POLICING

Both officers see their job in terms of community. They know the streets they patrol so well that they rarely use a GPS smartphone app. They know people in their zone by name, and they love to be out on patrol.

“I don’t think you can be a cop and not love the city itself,” Riley said.

Riley, 25, joined the force as a cadet in 2008, when he was 19 years old.

“I’m not burnt out on this at all,” he said. “I want to be as proficient as a cop as possible before I try anything else.”

Rosas, 44, joined the force in 2007 after years of working in retail and customer service. He gets frustrated seeing decent people who have to live in high-crime areas because they lack the means to live elsewhere. But he loves his job nonetheless, though he would be interested in working on the gang squad.

“I can’t say anything bad about the badge,” Rosas smiled. “I think we all knew what we were getting into when we signed up.”

The officers gushed about their families as they drove — Riley and his wife have a baby, and Rosas has two teenagers. They talk about vacations and complain about the heat.

DRUGS AND CAR THEFT

As they approach a scene, they take off their seat belts with a synchronized sweep of their arms as they locate some shade to park in.

The officers were sent to do a welfare check on a 1-year-old at his mother’s house. There was no real cause for concern, though. It was just part of a petty custody battle.

The officers were sent to get rid of a woman intimidating people and throwing rocks at a Mexican supermarket. The woman had mental health issues and said she was “sent by God to clear a vortex.” But she went on her way after a quick chat.

The officers were sent to check on a man in a backyard who overdosed on spice, a dangerous synthetic marijuana-like drug marketed as incense. Paramedics rolled him out on a gurney. He wouldn’t be the last spice-related incident of the day.

Rosas and Riley turned on the patrol car’s lights and sirens for the first time about midafternoon. A woman was seen driving a stolen Honda on Boulder Highway. The officers rushed to get closer to the action but had no intention of getting into a car chase over a property crime.

“We’re not going to drive too crazy over a stolen car,” Riley said.

“Do we have spikes in the back?” Rosas asked as he pulled up by a wall behind the RV park.

Riley jumped out and hopped the wall to look for the woman.

The officers heard that she was driving so recklessly that she hit a man on a motorcycle as she sped into the Arizona Charlie’s RV park on Boulder Highway. Then she ditched the car and ran inside, where she was quickly apprehended and identified by a witness.

The female officer who searched her found methamphetamines and a pipe stashed where the sun doesn’t shine. The man hit on his motorcycle got off lucky with just a bloody lip.

“Sorry. I kind of went lone-wolf over there,” Riley chuckled when they convened in front of the casino with a dozen other officers.

“I was like, ‘where did he go,’ ” Rosas laughed.

THEN THE FIREWORKS HIT

As the day progressed, calls started coming in closer together. The officers got their first call about fireworks at 7:30 p.m.

Some teens were blowing up plastic bottles with firecrackers, they said, but by the time they got there, all they saw were families lighting regular “safe and sane” fireworks.

They got a call that a neighbor was shooting a shotgun into the air, but it turned out to be fireworks.

“I don’t even know why we’re getting them,” Riley said, referring to fireworks calls. “Everyone’s going to be getting them in 20 minutes.”

Fireworks started to pop and echo overhead as the officers were investigating a shoplifter at a discount clothing store who dropped a bag of burglary tools and old court papers.

“Let’s cruise this neighborhood and try and see who’s putting off those bombs,” Riley said.

The officers got plenty of calls about fireworks going off, even illegal ones, but without seeing it firsthand, they don’t have probable cause to bust into someone’s backyard.

“I don’t know why people bother calling the cops for fireworks on the Fourth of July,” Riley said.

“Cause they’re grumpy bah-humbugs,” Rosas joked as another call came in.

“Freaking loud music call. That’s going to be all night, too.”

Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @WesJuhl on Twitter.