Patrol cut in parks scrapped

Almost 90 parks in Clark County would have gone unwatched by park police during the busy Memorial Day weekend in a plan that would have concentrated the patrols at only two park sites.

Las Vegas police, who did not agree to the plan, would have been left to handle all calls at the bulk of county parks today and Sunday.

By all accounts, this would've been a highly unusual move, especially on a holiday weekend when thousands of people congregate at area parks, and incidents calling for an emergency response tend to increase.

The plan came just days after county Parks Director Leonard Cash told county commissioners that his officers were being stretched too thin and suggested the Metropolitan Police Department begin monitoring some larger recreation areas.

Critics contend that labor politics drove the maneuver, while park officials say it was an ill-conceived attempt at changing the way parks are policed.

Cash scrapped the plan Friday. He said a few managers under him came up with the idea to funnel the patrols to two trouble spots: the planned shooting park at the north edge of Las Vegas and the Wetlands Park in the east valley.

"It was not a good decision," Cash said. "I thought this was a poor deployment of resources on a holiday weekend."

Cash said he wouldn't discipline those who crafted the flawed plan.

"I don't think there was an intent to do wrong here," he said.

Las Vegas police spokesman Bill Cassell said he was unaware of any plans to shift more park-patrol duties to his agency. He said he couldn't comment on something he knew nothing about.

In a memo dated Thursday, Roy Michael, who heads park police, indicated he had "received direction to conduct intense, focused patrols" at the shooting park today and at the Wetlands Park on Sunday.

"Deploy police bikes, ATV's and the police SUV, focusing on all crimes, incidents and situations, including arrests, as you would under regular patrols, but you are not to accept calls for service," Michael wrote.

Michael added: "All in-coming calls for service or requests for police assistance are to be forwarded to Las Vegas Police."

One union leader contends that Cash himself came up with the holiday-weekend plan and, when it stirred an outcry, blamed anonymous underlings.

"It would be 88 parks he would be ignoring -- and the outcome could be very serious to the people using the park, and the children," said Rick Binyons, secretary of the Park Police Association. "It was a surprise to us, especially on the eve of the busiest weekend we have."

During past Memorial Day weekends, park police responded to 85 calls last year, 61 in 2006 and 66 in 2005, according to county dispatch records.

Typically, four to five people work a shift and cover the entire park system, officials say.

Binyons said Cash has been pushing to get the Las Vegas police to take over patrolling more and more parks, with the ultimate goal of eliminating the park police altogether.

Cash has made park patrols a low priority, Binyons said, noting that of the six new positions that Cash requested this budget cycle, none were for police.

In fact, the park police has stayed at the same staffing level -- 18 employees -- since 1991, Binyons said, even though the park system is growing substantially.

These employees serve an important role, Binyons said. They often can respond more quickly to calls at parks than Las Vegas police, who are occupied handling neighborhood crime, he said.

Cash echoed some of the same laments as county commissioners at a budget hearing Tuesday, saying the patrol team is being stretched increasingly thin.

He asked that the regular police monitor some of the larger parks, including the planned 2,900-acre shooting park and a 1,000-acre portion of Nellis Dunes that the county wants to take over.

Cash insisted that his testimony had nothing to do with his lower-ranking managers' plan to divert the patrolling duties to Las Vegas police during the holiday weekend.

It was purely a coincidence, he said.

Michael said shifting some of the burden to Las Vegas police is one way to cut back on overtime.

The park police could also do their job more thoroughly, including on holiday weekends, Michael said.

Back when they were covering a smaller number of parks, they could thwart gang activity and drug dealing, Michael said. "We owned those parks."

Contact reporter Scott Wyland at swyland@reviewjournal.com or 702-455-4519.