Metro looking to expand

Metro Police want to expand by adding three new substations and replacing two others over the next four years -- an estimated $15.5 million endeavor to help keep pace with explosive growth in the Las Vegas Valley.

The plan calls for one substation each in the booming northwest and southwest corners of the valley, as well as splitting the overburdened Southeast Area Command into two substations -- one primarily for residential policing, the other for businesses.

The idea of expansion is being raised at a time when an in-house study has shown Metro to be as much as 3.7 area commands fewer than what it should have to police a community that has swelled to approximately 1.25 million residents.

"We are currently over the staffing threshold," Deputy Chief Richard McKee, who served on the source committee for hammering out a strategic plan for the department as it enters into the 21st century.

Metro's five current area commands are operating at capacity, some of them in aged facilities in need of repair.

Metro's Committee on Fiscal Affairs approved the package McKee presented Wednesday. Before any action can be taken, the issue must meet the approval of the Las Vegas City Council and the Clark County Commission -- the two governing bodies that jointly provide the department's budget.

McKee estimated that each new substation would cost approximately $3.1 million to build.

All new substations will be 17,000 square feet and will be styled in what McKee termed "cookie-cutter" fashion -- each built in identical configuration to the others and either in a contemporary or Spanish architectural style to best blend into the neighborhoods.

Currently under way is the relocation of the Northwest Area Command from its cramped quarters at Jones Boulevard and U.S. 95, where 177 employees have been operating for 13 years out of a 2,100-square-foot former church and two 400-square-foot trailers on the property. The northwest command currently services a population of 284,000.

The northwest substation's new location at 9600 W. Cheyenne Ave. will prove much roomier with 17,000 square feet of office space.

Next door to the new northwest command will be Metro's $4 million police academy, which will be built to accommodate 54 staff and 125 students in a contemporary styled facility of 21,000 square feet. Both the substation and academy are expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2000, police said.

The academy's present location in a 13,000-square-foot space next to the Northeast Area Command at 831 N. Mojave Ave. would become a facility for in-service training.

By state law, officers are required to undergo 24 hours of in-service training each year, 12 hours of which are typically getting re-certified in the use of their firearms and weapons like the PR-24 baton, and the other 12 hours learning new skills tailored to their current assignments.

Metro's expansion plan calls for a second substation in the northwest area to open up in fiscal year 2001-2002 that would be known as the West Central Area Command, at Rainbow Boulevard and U.S. 95.

Plans in the southwest valley call for relocating the current Southwest Area Command further south, possibly in the vicinity of Rainbow and Warm Springs Road or Rainbow and Blue Diamond although no firm decision has been made.

Southwest's current location in the 10,550 square-foot building at 5925 Spring Mountain Road would become the Southwest Central Area Command in fiscal 2001-2002.

Southeast Area Command would be split in half with approximately 150 employees relocating to a new facility at Pearl Street and Harmon Avenue sometime during fiscal 2000-2001. A new South Central Area Command would be simultaneously built to accommodate the rest of the former southeast employees and likely would be located south of McCarran International Airport.

Metro's 135 employees in the traffic division would move into southeast command's current location at 2300 E. St. Louis Ave., according to the plan. Remodeling plans for the 11,024 square-foot building would include converting its evidence vault into a garage for repairing its motorcycles, McKee said.

"These are not our needs -- these are the community's needs," Sheriff Jerry Keller said Wednesday when Metro's Committee on Fiscal Affairs approved the expansion proposal. "We must strategically plan for the growth of this agency."

Keller added that in addition to the population's growth, the department's expansion plans are answering the requests for more police voiced by citizens each month at First Tuesday meetings held at the area commands.

Metro's criteria for determining its manpower states that one area command is needed for every 125,000 residences, and 150 employees are needed to man each area command.

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