By Vernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
Published August 27, 2008
Local Metropolitan Police Sergeant, Bret Empey, was the guest speaker at the Moapa Valley Chamber of Commerce Membership Meeting held on Thursday, August 21. Empey spoke to local business owners about crime statistics in the Moapa Valley and methods that local law enforcement were taking to combat that crime.
Empey began by outlining the extent of the patrol area assigned to the local Metro substation. This patrol area includes nearly all of northeast Clark County including Bunkerville, Coyote Springs, Apex, the Moapa Valley and all of the open public lands in between. The area encompasses over 3300 square miles. “It is the largest patrol area in the Metro jurisdiction,” Empey said.
Only nine officers are currently assigned to cover that vast area. This means that resources are often stretched thin, Empey said. Until recently, there were only eight officers in the local area. Earlier this year a ninth officer was added to the area.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t a complete solution to the local station’s coverage problem. “When we got the ninth guy, a lot of people in town thought that we now would have 24/7 coverage,” Empey said. “But that isn’t necessarily true.”
Empey explained that 24/7 coverage was possible only if none of the officers took days off, got sick, had to go for training or needed personal time. “The truth is, there are still days with no graveyard shift,” Empey said. “I don’t publicize it when that happens but it happens.”
When asked what the realistic average response time would be if a local call was made to dispatch for Metro assistance, Empey said he had no way to answer that question. “There are too many variables out there,” he said. “It depends on the shift and what is going on at the time. If there is only one officer on duty and he has 3300 square miles to patrol, he might be on a domestic call all the way in Bunkerville at the same time you are calling in from Moapa or Overton. In that case it could be a while.” Empey emphasized again that he had limited resources to work with. “If any of you can find a way to give me more officers, I’ll definitely use them,” he said.
Empey cited several statistics for crime in his patrol area. He said that his group responds to 15-16 traffic accidents per month. The area sees about 17 burglaries per month as well as 1-2 stolen vehicles each month. Metro responds to about 22 domestic disturbances and sees 2-3 non-domestic battery cases.
When Empey began his post in Moapa Valley earlier this year, he said that local Metro were making about 95 car stops per month. Most of these were just given warnings. Only about 10% of the stops resulted in a citation, Empey said.
At the same time, he observed that many Moapa Valley drivers were rather lax in their observance of many traffic laws. “I noticed that people would wave at Metro officers as they went by, all while going 10 mph over the speed limit and not wearing their seat belt,” Empey said. “But people didn’t wave as much at the blue cars (NHP). What’s more, when they passed a blue car, they’d check their speed and slow down right away.”
Empey deduced that this was because local residents had little fear of getting a ticket from the Metro officers. Thus, Empey said that he asked his officers to increase the number of traffic stops they were making. As a result, incidents of speeding and lack of wearing seat belts have gone down in the community, Empey said.
Empey praised the group of local Metro officers for their abilities and service. “If you compare this unit with any other unit in Metro, we have a tremendous amount of talent here,” he said. “They run their own show out here. They make decisions that supervisors have to make. They act as a police agency all by themselves. I trust them to do that and they do an excellent job.”
