Police escort rule faulted

The people along the Strip cheered and waved as the bus carrying returning Marines from Iraq were escorted by Las Vegas police from McCarran International Airport to Nellis Air Force Base.

Terry Johnson, whose son, Lance Cpl. Wes Johnson, was among those returning on Sept. 16, couldn't have been more proud.

"It made their homecoming very special," Terry Johnson said.

As Vic Moss, commander of American Legion Post 149 in Las Vegas, watched the escorted troops receive a heroes' welcome, he was both happy and puzzled.

"I think it's great that they're honoring these men with an escort," he said at the time. "But we've tried to get the police to escort funerals for men who've given their life for their country and get nowhere. Why can't the Las Vegas police do that?"

The short answer, one that Capt. Tom Conlin with the Traffic Bureau is quick to cite as he describes a departmental manpower shortage, is simple: The Police Department has a policy against staffing funeral processions.

"We'd like to do it," Conlin said. "We just don't have enough officers."

What makes that answer difficult for Moss to understand, however, is that the department also has a policy against staffing a motorcade such as the one welcoming home Cpl. Johnson and his fellow Marines of Detachment 2, Bravo Company, 6th Motor Transport Battalion.

The policy regarding staffing reads, in part: "We don't staff officers in the following situations: ... Funeral processions or motorcades."

Compounding Moss' bewilderment is this admission from both Sheriff Doug Gillespie and his predecessor, Bill Young: Some funerals for men who fell in Iraq or Afghanistan have had police escorts.

"There are exceptions to every rule," Young said.

For example, Both Young and Gillespie said it is critical that Las Vegas police escort funerals for police and firefighters who die in the line of duty. "We have to take care of our own," Gillespie said.

Gillespie said he can remember at least two police escorts for military personnel from a mortuary to a burial site. Gillespie said that on other occasions, bodies have been escorted from the airport to the mortuary. The procedure often includes making sure the motorcade has a clear path through intersections and doesn't have to be stopped at traffic signals.

According to Conlin, what it costs Las Vegas to have funerals escorted goes well beyond the hourly pay of an officer.

In the best of worlds, he said, police would like to pay homage to every fallen veteran. The policy, when it was drafted, wasn't about military personnel specifically, but had to do more with processions overall. Other groups wanted to hire off-duty police for escorts, and the policy was drafted.

"We're trying to hold down traffic deaths," Conlin said. "And by doing this (escorts), we're taking officers off the street."

Despite the policy, Gillespie said he believes taxpayers would support the escorts.

"I believe that people think this is an exception we should make," he said. "If someone from Las Vegas dies serving his country, he and his family have paid a price that is worthy of our community's respect."

There have been 31 U.S. military personnel with ties to Southern Nevada who have died in the nation's wars overseas since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

How Johnson received a police escort for his son's unit started with an e-mail.

"I work for the county," Terry Johnson said. "I know a lot of the men in Metro. I e-mailed the sheriff and called his secretary, and she said an escort sounded like a great idea. The sheriff got it authorized, and then I started getting calls from officers asking, 'What can I do for you?'"

Johnson said he believes police always should honor a fallen soldier with an escort from the mortuary to the cemetery.

"It's the least we can do for someone who gave his life for his country," Johnson said.

Boulder City Chief of Police Thomas Finn, whose city is home to Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery, where many who have died in the Middle East are buried, said "it is an absolute disgrace not to escort all funerals of our youngest and bravest who gave their lives so we could keep our way of life."

"If members of the community say this is a waste of our tax dollars, I'll pay for it out of my own pocket," he said.

Boulder City police officers escort funeral processions for military personnel within the city limits, he said.

Mark Hoyt, spokesman for the North Las Vegas Police Department, said his agency gladly will escort funeral processions for all military personnel from North Las Vegas who die in Iraq or Afghanistan. Henderson police will do it on a "case by case" basis, according to Keith Paul, a spokesman.

"It's up to the discretion of the chief (Richard Perkins)," Paul said. "He will act upon a request from a family."

Sometimes, Paul said, the department wouldn't know the details of services for one of its fallen hometown service members.

Joy Marsico, whose son, Lance Cpl. Raul Bravo, was killed in Iraq in March, doesn't think police should wait on requests from families.

"People who have lost a son or daughter in Iraq aren't thinking about such things," she said. "And many of them are too humble to ask. It should be a given."

She said it meant a lot to her family when officers from the Nevada Highway Patrol escorted her son's body to the funeral home from the airport.

"Police and firemen all saluted my son's casket," she said. "It reminded me that people really care about what my son had done, given the ultimate sacrifice for his country."

Marsico said police could open up an information pipeline with the local chapter of Blue Star Mothers, an organization that receives information on area servicemen who have died. That way, police agencies could have information needed to provide escorts. Moss said the Nevada Patriot Guard, a group of patriotic motorcyclists who ride in funeral processions, also could share information with police if the police agency cannot work directly with the military.

Recently, Marsico said a funeral procession ended up 45 minutes late for graveside services at the cemetery in Boulder City.

"The traffic got so bad, and that could have easily been remedied by a police escort," she said, adding that earlier military ceremonies had taken place at Nellis Air Force Base.

Las Vegas police Lt. Joe Ojeda said it would take at least 10 to 12 officers to escort a body from Nellis Air Force Base to Boulder City. Much of that drive could be done on freeways.

"Ten to 12 officers would be a conservative estimate," Ojeda said. "It's actually easier to do on freeways because you don't have to worry about so many intersections and driveways along the way."

These officers would be tied up for about two hours, he said. Boulder City police would take over the escort at the city limits, Finn said.

Marsico wasn't sure how the Highway Patrol learned that her son's body was arriving at the airport and needed to be taken the five miles to a Palm Mortuary on Eastern Avenue. Because Bravo would be buried at a mortuary cemetery, there was no need for a further escort.

"I don't know how they found out about it, but I'm glad they did," she said.

Trooper Kevin Honea said the Highway Patrol had been alerted that Bravo's body would arrive at McCarran by the Marine Corps.

"It an honor for us to do that," Honea said.

It appears more families whose loved ones in the military die in Iraq or Afghanistan will have Las Vegas police escorting funeral processions.

"If we get a request from a family, we will do it," Gillespie said. "It is an exception to our policy that we should make."

Contact reporter Paul Harasim at pharasim@reviewjournal.com or 387-2908.