Metro seeks changes in laws

While Clark County's population rose a mere 20 percent between 1995 and 1998, the number of clandestine methamphetamine labs busted by Metro Police skyrocketed 325 percent.

And with each of those labs -- more than 200 discovered in 1998 -- police have been required by law to store every bit of seized evidence until the case closed in court. That has meant every beaker, every heating source and boxloads of the highly addictive drug's poisonous ingredients including lye, methanol racing fuel, acetone and red phosphorous.

This legislative session, though, Metro Police officials hope to lighten the volatile load in their bulging evidence storage facilities.

Lt. Stan Olsen, Metro's government liaison, will be heading up to Carson City next month in hopes the department can effect changes in the laws from clandestine labs to real estate and stricter sentencing.

"We're hoping to be able to use samplings of the evidence instead of keeping all of the evidence," Olsen said. "The chemicals are so volatile ... it creates a dangerous situation."

Real estate is another issue high on Metro's list.

Unlike the city and the county, the department is the only governmental entity in the Las Vegas Valley that is not permitted to own buildings. As a result, Metro spends approximately $200,000 a month renting 14 buildings at 13 different sites to house its investigative teams, including homicide, crime analysis, robbery, missing persons, sexual assault and internal affairs.

The department is also feeling the pressure at its rented substations.

The Southwest Area Command off Spring Mountain Road and Jones Boulevard has made three expansions over the years and is presently at capacity. So is the 30-year-old building serving as Northwest Area Command at Jones and U.S. 95, which for the past 10 years has depended on two double-wide trailers outside to accommodate the overflow.

The second floor of the Downtown Area Command -- formerly the old Fifth Street school's gymnasium -- has been condemned, Olsen said, and can't be used.

The Southwest Area Command, built from the ground up 20 years ago for police, has some structural problems, Olsen said. The Northeast Area Command off Mojave Road and the academy next door are cramped for space.

And Metro has only one pistol range, which wouldn't be a problem if Las Vegas were still a small town. Getting officers from the west side of the valley to the range at the far east edge and back means they are potentially off the streets as much as three hours a shift.

"We want to keep them in the field as much as possible," Olsen said.,

Police are pushing for stricter punishments against criminals who assume another person's identity, fraudulently using their names, addresses, birth certificates and Social Security numbers to get credit cards and identification.

Metro is additionally seeking to clarify confusing or limited language in current statutes, including definitions for debit cards and the difference between blood alcohol concentration and alcohol concentration detected in one's breath.

Issues still in review include imposing stiffer fines against offenders who repeatedly damage property with graffiti, making it easier to prosecute cases when a suspect is caught in possession of a stolen gun, and offering alternative sentencing tailored to meet the specific needs of young offenders to help get them back on the right track in life.

"We want to offer diversion programs for kids before recidivism becomes an issue," Olsen said, "before they are so entrenched that they are not salvageable."

Also under consideration is an effort to require beeper companies to commit their customers to contracts listing their real names, addresses and other identifiable information.

Should detectives be lucky enough to uncover a suspect's beeper number or the actual device, they often are tripped up when the company that issued the beeper required little more than a deposit to cover its cost and casual billing arrangements.

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