KEEPING THE PEACE: UNLV police in collaboration

January 26, 2012 by Rochel Leah Goldblatt 

Campus peace officers are trained with the valley’s finest. They tailor law enforcement policies to the campus environment.

Police Services’ role as peace officers sets its officers apart from other law enforcement units’ personnel.

“What’s different [than other police departments] is that we adhere to a community policing policy, and are more service oriented,” said UNLV Chief of Police José Elique.

This policy helps the force of about 50 specialize its activities to the needs of a college campus.

There are no detention or holding capabilities available on campus, so arrests made by UNLV police officers are processed through Clark County Detention Center.

But those cases come before the UNLV Office of Student Conduct rather than proceeding directly to civil or criminal courts.

UNLV police train at the same six-month police academy that trains all other local police departments except the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

Their training categorizes them as certified Category I Peace Officers, which affords them the same authority and power as LVMPD and Nevada Highway Patrol.

UNLV Police often works with the LVMPD, with the two units contributing to each other’s efforts when their activities intersect.

The two departments train together so they are capable of working with the other’s policies and procedures, especially in active shooter scenarios. They also provide a united law enforcement front at special events and they assist each other at crime scenes.

The two units collaborate on the Nation Finals Rodeo, where UNLV police have full jurisdiction.

They also work together to provide security for events that include notable guest speakers, such as Tuesday’s “Get Motivated” seminar at the Thomas & Mack, where guests included former secretary of state Colin Powell, former first lady Lauray Bush and former New York mayor and U.S. presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani.

UNLV police have state police pwers, which allow them to take jurisdiction and work with local law enforcement in any part of the state of Nevada in regard to any crime that originated on campus.

If an incident that occurs on campus and a it later becomes necessary for UNLV Police to pursue a suspect off campus, they are permitted to do so.

Police Services’ dispatch service is connected to the LVMPD dispatch, which helps ensure speedy responses to incidents.

Police Services prides uses “advanced patrol methodologies” to decrease response times.

Officers patrol on foot, bicycles, motorcycles, horseback and T3 Chariots and in automobiles.

UNLV police assist other law enforcement units in pursuing crimes that cross over into the UNLV jurisdiction, and they lend a hand at times when Metro is especially busy, like on New Year’s Even, when most LVMPD officers patrol the Strip.

“In the past we had officers doing things outside of our jurisdiction, but with education and training that issue has been eliminated,” said Jeff Green, a UNLV Police patrol division police lieutenant.

Police Services also works with federal law enforcement agencies such as the Secret Service and the FBI.

“We’re very proud of the officers that we have here,” Elique said. “We are different, but we are no less than other police departments.”

Rochel Leah Goldblatt reports on crime for The Rebel Yell. Contact her at rochelleah.goldblatt.ry@gmail.com.