UNLV upset after police disrupt Black Lives Matter event
UNLV President Len Jessup has called the actions of North Las Vegas police officers “unacceptable” after they entered campus unannounced Tuesday night and disrupted a Black Lives Matter event.
Seven North Las Vegas motorcycle officers drove around a pedestrian-only area as a spoken word poetry competition, sponsored by Black Lives Matter UNLV, ended.
“The officers entered campus without notifying campus police or university leadership,” Jessup said in a statement. “Understandably, this activity caused concern among students, faculty, and staff.”
In a Facebook post, Black Lives Matter UNLV said the police officers “swarmed like sharks” in the parking lot behind the student union courtyard, then entered the courtyard.
“In an attempt to intimidate the coalition of student organizations at UNLV, their presence has made a statement, however, we are not intimidated,” the group said in the post.
Delen Goldberg, a spokeswoman for North Las Vegas, said the officers were on campus for a routine training exercise, which they and other jurisdictions have done for decades.
She said the officers practice navigating tight turns and challenging landscape, usually during the evening to avoid being disruptive.
Goldberg said the officers were unaware of the poetry event.
“For some reason, the mere presence of the police officers was construed to be intimidating,” she said.
Goldberg said it has not been in the department’s practice to alert the university when the training exercises take place but said that police Chief Alexander Perez said it’s a good policy procedure moving forward.
In the statement, Jessup said the university has expressed “deep concerns” about the timing and nature of the incident on campus.
“The actions of these officers were unacceptable,” Jessup said. “Further, we have asked the North Las Vegas Police Department for an explanation and an apology.”
Contact Natalie Bruzda at nbruzda@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3897. Follow @NatalieBruzda on Twitter.
