Voters say police worth sales tax hike

Clark County voters would overwhelmingly support raising the sales tax another quarter cent to hire more police officers, according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal poll.

In the poll of 425 county voters, 65 percent said they would approve such a ballot question in the next election, while 28 percent said they would vote "no." Seven percent were undecided.

"Your numbers are an indication of the trust the community has in us," said Sheriff Doug Gillespie, whose Metropolitan Police Department polices Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County.

The poll was conducted last week by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

The results reveal a sizable shift in voter opinion about paying for police with higher sales taxes. In 2004, voters narrowly approved the More Cops ballot question by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent.

The initiative called for a one-half cent increase in the sales tax to hire 1,700 new officers among the county's police agencies.

The 2005 Legislature split the raise, putting off the second quarter-cent increase until this year.

Under the first half of the tax, the Metropolitan Police Department has hired nearly 600 new officers, and the North Las Vegas and Henderson police departments have each hired about 100 new cops.

Gillespie credited the extra manpower for a 27 percent drop in crime since 2004.

"People see more officers. They feel as if their city is safer," he said.

He and other police leaders have lobbied state lawmakers to pass the second half of the tax increase to continue hiring more officers and build upon their successful crime-fighting efforts.

The current proposal would split the raise, with one-eighth cent increases in 2011 and 2013. The county sales tax is 7.75 percent.

Mason-Dixon pollster Brad Coker said he wasn't surprised by the results, especially since voters already approved the idea years ago.

"Police officers are popular," he said.

Contact reporter Brian Haynes at bhaynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0281.