Pubdate: Tue, 29 Aug 2000
Source: Las Vegas Sun (NV)
Copyright: 2000 Las Vegas Sun, Inc.
Contact:  P.O. Box 4275, Las Vegas, NV 89127
Fax: (702) 383-7264
Website: http://www.lasvegassun.com/
Forum: http://www.vegas.com/ubbcgi/Ultimate.cgi
Author: Ed Koch

UNLV TO DISCIPLINE COPS OVER RAID

But university withholds details of state probe

UNLV Police officers involved in a controversial and embarrassing drug
raid in March will be punished, but the penalties, like a state report
critical of the officers' conduct, will be shrouded in mystery.

UNLV Police Chief Jose Elique said Monday he will administer "formal
discipline" to an unspecified number of officers who on March 9 wore
combat fatigues while storming the Boyd Hall dormitory and wound up
with a handful of drugs and one arrest.

Formal discipline means that the officers involved will receive a
penalty stiffer than counseling but less than termination, Elique
said. He would not, however, confirm whether the officers will be
suspended without pay or fined as a result of the incident. He would
not release the names of the officers.

UNLV has refused to release to the public a voluminous report from a
probe by the Nevada Division of Investigation into the incident, where
UNLV Police allegedly forced a UNLV housing coordinator to go on the
raid with them and unlock the dormitory door.

After the incident, the campus housing coordinator claimed he was
frisked, handcuffed and pushed to the floor by the UNLV officers -- an
action that led to the state investigation and the suspension of two
UNLV police sergeants who have since been reinstated to supervisory
positions.

Elique would not confirm whether those two sergeants, Don Drake and
Paul Harris, were among those disciplined this week. Drake was acting
chief at the time of the raid.

Elique acknowledged that the names of the disciplined officers could
eventually become public if they file for administrative reviews or
court appeals to have the disciplinary actions removed from their records.

The state report found fault with not only the police operation but
also UNLV police department policies during the raid that netted four
Ecstasy tablets, a small amount of marijuana and paraphernalia.
Eighteen bags of a white powdery substance thought to be opium turned
out to be talcum powder.

Elique, the former City University of New York police chief who was
hired by UNLV three months ago following a nationwide search to find a
leader who could clean up the campus police force's image, said he
labored over the degree of the assessment of punishment after studying
the state report closely.

Earlier Elique told the Sun that three officers were being considered
for punishment. On Monday he declined to confirm whether that was
indeed the number of officers disciplined.

"We are confident that based on the changes we have made in policy
(regarding the serving of warrants) that another incident exactly like
this would probably not happen again in the same manner," Elique said.

Meanwhile 19-year-old UNLV student Graig Adler awaits trial on felony
possession of marijuana and Ecstasy in connection with the raid.

Adler's attorney John Moran Jr. has demanded documents, including the
state report that UNLV has kept secret, saying they are crucial to his
defense.

The Las Vegas Sun has filed requests under the Freedom of Information
Act for the state report. UNLV's general counsel has refused to
release the document, saying that it involves personnel matters.

In an Aug. 11 letter to UNLV President Carol Harter, Moran said the
documents, "set forth the outrageous and extreme conduct and actions
of the University Police Department personnel."
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