Moapa Asks Metro For Crime Prevention Training

Last week, Moapa residents expressed concerns about what they considered to be unreasonably long police response times in the community. The discussion was an item on the agenda of the Moapa Town Advisory Board meeting held on Thursday, May 14. Metro Sergeant Bret Empey was in attendance at the meeting to answer questions.

Citizens related experiences of calling Metro dispatchers to request assistance and then waiting 3-4 hours or more for police to arrive. They asked Empey what a realistic expectation should be for Metro response time.

“It depends on the circumstances,” Empey said. He explained that the Metro dispatchers will rank the calls based on the urgency of what is being reported. When reports of burglaries come in where homes are broken into when no one is home, the call is placed relatively low on the priority list, Empey said. “But if you are reporting an armed robbery, say, then that is put as top priority,” he continued. “We drop everything and get there as soon as we can.”

Even then, response times could be long. Empey emphasized that his coverage area is huge with only nine officers to cover it. “When we get an urgent call from Moapa, our officer might be in Bunkerville,” Empey said. “It will take some time for him to get to you.”

“Many people think that we have 24-7 coverage in this community,” Empey continued. “We don’t.”

Empey stated that on paper there is round the clock coverage. But that does not take into account sick time, vacation time or training for his officers. “I’m doing all I can with the resources that I’m given,” he said.

Empey stated that this was just part of living in a rural area. “If you want to see a whole lot more officers in your neighborhood, you have to go where there are more officers,” he said. “That would be Las Vegas.”

MTAB members asked Empey what could be done by citizens to help reduce crime in the area. Empey stated that his officers would be happy to discuss options similar to Neighborhood Watch programs that could be implemented in the community.

“We would be happy to present what is available and arrange to provide some crime prevention training to people here in the community,” Empey said.

Board members asked that the item be put on the agenda for the June 11 MTAB meeting. Metro officer Corey Estes agreed to be available in that meeting to discuss what can be done and to arrange additional training.