Metro questions need for marshals

When Jorge Martinez was pulled over in downtown Las Vegas last week for a traffic violation, he didn't give the object of his ire a second thought.

"Damn cop," Martinez said he muttered to himself after being pulled over for failing to signal a left turn off of Fremont Street.

The lucky resident, who escaped with just a verbal warning to drive more carefully, also left the traffic stop with a strange realization.

"It wasn't even a cop, man," Martinez said. "It was some kind of park marshal, and it just really surprised me that he could pull me over."

Martinez is not alone in his astonishment as talk of deconsolidating Metro Police becomes a very real possibility.

"For the past five years they have quietly been building up that department," Sheriff Jerry Keller said. "We don't know why they need bomb squads and undercover stings."

For years city officials have quietly beefed up the Deputy City Marshals unit from park rangers to law enforcement officers with sweeping powers that surprise even Metro's brass.

So when an internal city report examining deconsolidation was leaked two weeks ago, Metro wondered whether Las Vegas couldn't start saving money by eliminating the millions spent on marshals.

The Deputy City Marshals are assigned to city parks, recreational facilities and buildings, and the Downtown Transportation Center. The city charter and state law grants them the authority to enforce laws in those areas. They carry weapons and have the power to arrest and issue citations.

Deputy marshals also work with the city's Neighborhood Response unit to remove abandoned vehicles.

But Russell Wood, a Metro patrol officer, wonders if the deputy marshals haven't also overstepped their jurisdiction even while amassing $225,000 in overtime pay last year.

"It doesn't say anything in there about reverse stings for prostitution or traffic stops," Wood said, referring to state law. "We have a police department to exercise those functions."

Mike Sheldon, the city's director of Detention and Enforcement and chief city marshal, denies allegations of duplicated services and said his squad gets along well with other law enforcement agencies.

"We haven't had any turf wars," Sheldon said. "They work very well with Metro."

But his marshals have grown from the park rangers of the early 1980s to highly specialized officers who attend a special forces military-style educational institution. The marshals also have German-trained enforcement dogs and a Situational Emergency Response Team.

The training, tools and equipment don't come cheaply.

The city marshal unit's budget for this fiscal year is $4.17 million, a 104 percent increase over the $2.04 million spent by the unit in fiscal year 1996.

Salaries and wages accounted for the greatest share of this increase. The city is spending $2.66 million in this category this year compared to $1.29 million five years ago. Employee benefits likewise have nearly doubled to $1 million today from $509,118 in fiscal year 1996.

The primary reason for this growth is that the marshals unit increased from 27 to 45 budgeted employees over that period. Compared to the 20 deputy city marshals in fiscal 1996, there are 35 budgeted deputies this year, a 75 percent increase.

The marshals unit also has a $454,865 budget for services and supplies this year, up from $231,771 five years ago. Machine and equipment expenses also increased over the same period from $12,585 to $51,517.

Mayor Oscar Goodman said today he expects the marshals unit budget to be scrutinized as closely as Metro's.

"I expect that to be done," Goodman said. "Every department is getting examined. They're not immune."

Marshals enter the pay scale making $30,000. Sergeants earn anywhere from $42,000 to $61,000. Metro's sergeants top their pay scale at just over $61,000.

Las Vegas law enforcement needs have increased with the growing population in that same five-year period. But some sources say they believe the council has been secretly beefing up the force in that time period in order to have a foundation on which to build if the city breaks away from Metro.

"That kind of growth in five years has to be looked at," said one city employee, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It's interesting that the councilman pushing hardest for deconsolidation has served exactly five years."

Michael McDonald, who led deconsolidation talk in City Hall, and Gary Reese have been on the council since 1995. Larry Brown was elected in 1997. Lynette Boggs McDonald and Goodman began serving this year.

McDonald did not return repeated calls seeking comment.

"We've been around a long time," Sheldon said. "It's been an evolution, not a revolution."

Lois Willis, Metro's comptroller, said she believes the increase in budgeting for city marshals is in some way related to deconsolidation talk.

"Mike Sheldon's the one doing the study," Willis said of an unfinished, internal city report said to favor deconsolidation. "Why has that budget increased so much?"

Metro officers are also questioning Sheldon's duties and his current $108,000-a-year salary. Sheldon was hired by the city in 1982 as an assistant director of enforcement, making $28,000. Keller's salary is $80,000.

In addition to the marshals' funding, the city also has budgeted $16.9 million for detention and correctional services, a 46 percent increase from the $11.6 million spent in fiscal 1996. The budget this fiscal year includes $9.7 million for salaries and wages, $3.8 million for employee benefits, $3.2 million for services and supplies, and $134,558 for machine and equipment expenses.

There are also 182 detention and correction positions budgeted this fiscal year, a 21-percent increase from the 151 employees in fiscal 1996. Most of the increases have been in senior corrections officers. There are 106 such corrections officer positions budgeted this fiscal year, compared to 89 in fiscal 1996.

The detention services division oversees the City Hall Jail on the second floor of City Hall at 400 E. Stewart Ave., where individuals arrested on misdemeanors are booked. After booking those individuals are transferred to the City Detention Center at 3200 E. Stewart Ave.

The city is also budgeted this year to spend about $73.2 million on Metro, a 41 percent increase from the $52 million allocated in fiscal 1996.

But Metro's budget has grown at only about half the rate of the marshals unit. Metro's $239 million budget this year is a 56 percent increase over the $153 million spent in fiscal 1996.

"We think that if the city wants to look at saving money, perhaps it should start with the marshals," said Metro Undersheriff Richard Winget.

Sheldon said he won't discuss details of a city report about deconsolidation that he's helping to write until it is finished and given to City Manager Virginia Valentine.

But he denies his department is unnecessary.

"The city just saw the need for it," Sheldon said of the marshals unit. "It was one of those necessary things. The city has experienced almost unbridled urbanization and as a result their jurisdiction and responsibilities have expanded."

The Situational Emergency Response Team, combining marshals and correctional officers, was created four years ago.

The team is fitted with necessary SWAT-like equipment and weaponry and is called to riot situations both inside the detention center and "anywhere and everywhere," Sheldon said.

Caesar, a drug dog, is used in the detention center, parks and by other law enforcement agencies (except Metro) in the valley.

The city's Detention and Enforcement division also serves as the regional training agency for all law enforcement except Metro. North Las Vegas and Henderson police, Deputy City Marshals and UNLV officers train at the Las Vegas academy.

"We have one of the finest training academies anywhere, if not the finest," Sheldon said.

Sheldon said his marshals require training and equipment because they are often the first to respond to serious incidents.

Statistics for his department in July show that marshals responded to 437 incidents, made 213 arrests and issued 143 citations. Of those incidents, 38 were classified as felonies and 20 felony arrests were made. Most of the cases are minor in nature, like alcohol in the park, graffiti and trespasses.

May and June statistics reveal similar level of involvement.

Deputy City Marshals logged an average of 17,251 public contacts each month from May through July.

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