Southern Nevada cops cut short on fed funds

Perkins, a police captain in Henderson, told John Drew, the acting director of the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, that law enforcement agencies in Clark County got less than $500,000 of a $3.9 million federal grant.

But Drew said a panel of law enforcement officials decided that the priorities for the money were for "multi-jurisdictional task forces" - or combinations of police agencies zeroing in on specific crimes, such as drug offenses.

The comments were made at a meeting Tuesday of the Legislative Interim Finance Committee, which approved the revival of a state auto theft unit in southern Nevada. The unit had been under heavy criticism.

Drew said that 62 percent of the grant money goes to local governments, 5 percent is kept for administration and the rest goes to the state.

He said the panel, under his state agency, views the multi-jurisdictional task forces as the best way to use the money.

Perkins said later that Drew's agency likes to fund multi-agency task forces because the state is then involved with the program. Perkins said he talked Friday with Clark County Sheriff Jerry Keller, who also was upset about the funding.

In the allocation, Perkins said police agencies in southern Nevada received $480,000 and $1.2 million was kept by the Nevada Divisions of Investigation.

On the auto theft unit, nicknamed "Viper," Drew told the committee it has been restructured to take care of complaints from law enforcement officials in southern Nevada. He said the Metro Police Department will take over the day-to-day supervision.

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