Nevada DMV seeks weapons — just in case

CARSON CITY — With ever-lengthening lines of frustrated people waiting for service at Southern Nevada DMV offices, the agency wants to be ready for the day when the interminable waits might provoke someone to violence.

On a recent evening at the Department of Motor Vehicles’ Flamingo branch in Las Vegas, about 500 people were still waiting for service as the clock ticked to 5 p.m.

Despite assurances that all customers inside the building would be served, about 100 left at 6:30 p.m. without receiving assistance and were forced to return another day.

While the agency has ambitious plans to address the crowded conditions, which is the result of new programs and a rebounding economy, officials want to be ready for a worst-case scenario as well.

To that end the DMV budget request for the next two years includes funding for what it is calling an “Active Shooter Program” aimed at improving its response to a possible shooting at a DMV office.

A total of $48,000 has been included in the agency’s budget for equipment and training for the program, including the purchase of 12 Sig Sauer M400 5.56 semi-automatic rifles with related equipment at a cost of nearly $40,000.

Two rifles would be located at each of the four urban Clark County DMV offices, as well as the Reno and Carson City offices.

Some lawmakers were skeptical of the proposal at a hearing last week in front of a joint Assembly Ways and Means and state Senate Finance subcommittee.

Donnie Perry, administrator of the agency’s Compliance Enforcement Division, said active shooter incidents, where an individual attempts to kill a large number of people in a confined area, are unpredictable.

An incident could come from a current or former employee or an acquaintance, he said.

Usually the duration of such an incident is over before a law enforcement agency can respond, so the agency wants to be prepared to stop such an act as quickly as possible, Perry said.

Clark County has seen a couple of recent DMV scares, according to Nevada DMV spokesman Kevin Malone.

In 2012, a man with a loaded shotgun walked into the DMV office on Flamingo Road. A supervisor and two compliance enforcement investigators persuaded him to leave the property. No one was injured in the incident.

In February 2014, angry customers stormed the doors of the Sahara Avenue office that was filled to capacity. DMV staff had cut off access to a crowd of people waiting outside. An agency compliance enforcement officer who went outside to address the crowd was assaulted and sustained minor injuries.

Las Vegas police responded to both incidents, but made no arrests, Malone said.

Such incidents aren’t unique to Nevada DMV offices. In 2010, a former DMV employee in Monroe, N.C., was one of three arrested and charged after the shooting and robbery of two employees at the city’s DMV office. Otis Howie Jr., 46, and Melvin Luckey, 35, were sentenced to up to 105 years in prison, according to media reports and public records.

The Nevada proposal would not involve active shooter response training for the contracted security personnel who work at the offices, Perry said.

Instead, the agency’s existing 30 sworn law enforcement officers are involved in the program. They all received active shooter training from the FBI in October 2014 and will have access to the rifles, which would be locked in bio­metric safes in secure areas of the offices. The safes are part of the total equipment purchase.

The budget includes $8,457 for training for two officers to attend a “train the trainer course.”

There would then be one trainer in the north and one in the south.

Perry said that while the officers are frequently out of the office during the day, the plan is that at least one officer would be available in each of the offices to respond to any incident.

Assembly Speaker John Hambrick, R-Las Vegas, who had a nearly three-decade career in federal law enforcement, including the Presidential Protection Detail of the Secret Service, said he was concerned about the use of rifles in such an enclosed space.

He cited a photo included by the agency in its budget presentation, which showed a DMV office full of people waiting for service.

“There is going to be pure panic,” Hambrick said.

He questioned how much experience an officer would have in picking out a target in the midst of mass panic in such a close space.

“I’m very concerned,” Hambrick said.

Assemblyman Chris Edwards, R-Las Vegas, was unequivocal in his opposition to the proposal.

“My concern is I think we’re just going into overkill mode on this active shooter thing,” he said. “I think it is a waste of money and a waste of time.”

Edwards said the security now in place at the DMV offices should be able to respond to any potential incident. The use of a high-powered rifle in such an environment seems excessive, he said.

Perry said those responding to such an incident would have a better chance at fighting off a shooter with the rifles, which are more accurate at greater distances. A handgun is functional at up to 25 yards, but there are distances within the DMV offices that reach 60 yards, he said.

The rifles will have scopes to make them more accurate, Perry said.

“We also want to be able to respond to a threat at the appropriate level,” he said.

Active shooters often use a high-powered rifle, and a handgun in such a scenario is insufficient, Perry said.

Shootings at state office buildings have occurred but they are rare.

In October 2014, a 73-year-old man walked into the Department of Administration’s Hearings Division building, at 2200 S. Rancho Drive, near Sahara Avenue, shooting and injuring a state worker. The incident stemmed from a decade-old workers compensation dispute.

In 1993, a man drove his vehicle into the State Industrial Insurance System office in Las Vegas and fired shots at state workers.

The attacker was shot in the head by a security guard but survived. This attack also involved a dispute over workers’ compensation benefits.

In a 2010 incident which didn’t involve a state agency, a man upset over losing a lawsuit regarding his Social Security benefits walked into the Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse in downtown Las Vegas, pulled a shotgun from beneath his jacket and opened fire, killing a court security officer. The attacker was also killed.

The budget committees have not yet made a decision on the budget request.

Review-Journal photographer Jeff Scheid and writer Chris Kudialis contributed to this report. Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Follow @seanw801 on Twitter.