RIFT GROWS BETWEEN UNLV COPS, FRONT OFFICE

UNLV Police Chief Jose Elique calls it a "schism" -- a seemingly ever-growing rip in his department's delicate relations with the school's administration -- that began long ago and will require more than the scant three months he has had to mend it.

UNLV Vice President for Student Life Rebecca Mills agrees that the strained relationship between the UNLV administration and some campus police officers has become, more than ever, an "us vs. them" situation.

State Peace Officers Council President Ron Cuzze, a UNLV police officer, says the university "hung us (officers) out to dry." He questions both the university's intentions and his boss's leadership and loyalty to his officers.

Cuzze, who has stated that since Elique took over in July that at least 14 of the 21 campus officers are seeking other employment or considering retirement, vows that the officers will fight back, "with press releases and lawsuits."

The rift between police and administrators widens amid the university's continued efforts to keep secret a state police report, funded with public money, that was critical of both the school's policies and the officers' conduct in a drug raid six months ago. In many ways, that veil of secrecy has only exacerbated the problem.

"This schism has permeated through this department for more than a decade," said Elique, who was hired following a nationwide search for a skilled police administrator to clean up the department's image that sparked student protests and lawsuits and resulted in the reassignment of the last chief to another UNLV supervisory job.

"It is difficult to mend the fences when a constant rehashing of the events of the past keeps them in the foreground. I'm not saying the events should not be rehashed, but they are dampening my efforts to bring about change. Still, I remain confident things will change for the better."

The university has refused to name the officers disciplined last month by Elique for their involvement in a controversial March 9 drug raid that resulted in just one arrest and the recovery of four Ecstasy tablets and a small amount of marijuana.

Cuzze confirmed that Sgt. Don Drake, who was acting chief at the time of the raid, and Sgt. Paul Harris had letters of reprimand put in their files and he is awaiting a hearing before a tribunal to contest a three-day, without pay suspension he received.

Drake and Harris were placed on administrative leave and later reinstated after the raid that drew criticisms that the police went too far by dressing up in combat gear, kicking in doors and taking with them on the raid a civilian campus housing official who claimed he was later detained and roughed up by the officers.

A probe of the raid by the Nevada Division of Investigation resulted in the report that UNLV has declined to release.

Cuzze says that while the raid story has been told and retold, he says the accounts of the officers' actions have been distorted down to the very outfits they wore.

"The media keeps calling it a military or combat operation, but we wore only our blue uniforms," Cuzze said. "Some of the men were specifically told to wear their utility uniforms (with large pockets to carry gloves, bags and other equipment). And, yes, we wore bulletproof vests and combat boots. But we always wear them on the job."

Cuzze maintains that campus police, in conducting the raid, were taking their cue from the administration's no tolerance policy toward drugs on campus, but were betrayed by school leaders after the raid came under fire.

"They not only failed to protect us, they hung us out to dry," Cuzze said, claiming that he believes it is UNLV's intention to replace its state-certified police officers with security guards, similar to those used at local community colleges.

UNLV officials they want to keep a certified police department.

"We want a force that is well-trained, does its police work with a degree of sensitivity and does not escalate situations," Mills said. "UNLV does not want the us vs. them situation. We want officers who want to work in a university environment, which differs from a metropolitan environment."

Mills also says UNLV has done a great deal to protect its officers -- to the point of facing heavy criticism over not releasing the NDI report.

"We have protected the confidentiality of records," Mills said.

Cuzze, a 52-year-old grandfather and Las Vegas resident since 1959 who has six Metro Police commendations, says he is bothered by a university regent's proposal that UNLV police be disarmed. He says that will not resolve any situation, and will only compound problems for both the police and those they protect.

Not all campus officers agree with opinions expressed by Cuzze and the State Peace Officers Council regarding Elique. Recently, UNLV Officers Kevin Youngflesh and James Kettner, who are former SPOC members, came out in support of the chief.

"The new Police Department administration is actively involved in changing policies for the betterment of the department and the UNLV community (and are) making great strides in correcting any problems that may have existed in the past," Youngflesh and Kettner said in a news release.