Metro considers substation closures

Police sources confirm Metro officials are weighing whether to move forward with a plan to close substations in Kyle Canyon and out in Sandy Valley in an effort to cut costs.

Trouble is, it might not save much money and it undoubtedly will decrease the quality of police service in the areas.

As a longtime resident of Kyle Canyon, I’m sensitive to this issue. But given the fact Kyle attracts more than a million visitors a year, it’s not just about protecting a few neighborhoods.

While officials are attempting to pinch pennies, neither Sheriff Doug Gillespie nor his posse can just close the substations. For that the department would have to make its case before the Clark County Commission.

The issue at hand appears to be more a matter of perception than reality. Rural officers receive 20 percent more salary as resident cops than their fellow officers in town.

But the resident officers don’t receive the department’s shift differential dividend. Nor do they receive call-out pay when off duty. They also receive little or no overtime pay, police sources tell me.

Contrast that with the potential problems generated when the officers aren’t on the mountain and instead are at least 25 minutes away from the neighborhoods they patrol.

Meanwhile, Police Protective Association officials already have met with officers and with the sheriff. The earliest the Kyle substation might be closed, cops say, is July. The substation in Sandy Valley wouldn’t be due for closure until July of 2011.