UNLV, Metro join forces to curb crime in neighborhood

Thursday, July 19, 2012 | 2 a.m.

Frequent problems at apartments near the Rio and Gold Coast grated at Metro Police officers’ nerves. It was the same story year after year: many calls, no real solutions.

“Frankly, we were just sick and tired of the level of property crime and street-level violence over there,” said Capt. Matt McCarthy of Metro’s Enterprise Area Command, which polices that area.

Eight months ago, officers decided to pursue a new approach based on residents’ perspectives. After all, if ongoing crime issues frustrated officers, how did the people living in the apartments feel?

To that end, the Apartment Complex Empowerment Initiative emerged, McCarthy said.

“The idea behind this project is to empower the apartment residents in a particular piece of our geography ... to become much more involved in what’s occurring in their community,” he said. “We have very high-density apartment living in that area.”

Officers teamed with Tamara Madensen, an assistant professor of criminal justice at UNLV, to glean information from residents and use existing research to curb crime issues, McCarthy said.

To start, students studying criminal justice surveyed 180 residents living in several complexes and asked about their living experiences. They wanted to know their perception of safety and their most pressing crime concerns, Madensen said.

Madensen also shared research about problem-oriented policing with officers. Problem-oriented policing emphasizes using preventive strategies and recruiting community resources to address problems without involving the criminal justice system, according to the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing.

“The neat thing about it is it’s very structured,” Madensen said. “A lot of times we just throw everything at a problem.”

The goal is to create long-term change rather than only temporary reductions in crime, Madensen said.

“It’s really exciting to see this type of partnership between academia and practitioners,” she said. “We’re using research to solve problems.”

Madensen said she expected UNLV to complete a report based on the survey in the next week or two. From there, officers can devise a plan to address residents’ concerns.

It could be as simple as improving lighting in an alley, she said.

“It’s not something where police want to go in and crack down,” Madensen said, pointing to the initiative’s hope of empowering residents.

Officers already have started connecting with residents, many of whom are Hispanic, on a more personal level, McCarthy said. Metro recently debuted its Second Tuesday program at one complex, which is a Spanish-language version of its First Tuesday program meant to educate residents about crime trends and prevention methods.

If the ACE Initiative works — resulting in reduced crime and better communication between police and residents — McCarthy said he would like to apply the concept to other neighborhoods with many apartment complexes.

“They have the right and they have the need to live in safe communities even though they are apartments,” he said.