History of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was created on July 1, 1973, by combining two separate police agencies: the Clark County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) and the Las Vegas Police Department (LVPD.)
Before the formation of the CCSO in 1909 and the LVPD in 1911, Las Vegas was part of Lincoln County and only a handful of deputies handled the rapidly growing population. (The population was 19 in 1900 and by 1910 it had grown to 945.)
The CCSO handled the more rural areas of Clark County and was led by an elected sheriff. The LVPD was led by a police chief who was appointed by the City Council. LVPD's jurisdiction was within the Las Vegas city limits, including an area known as "Block 16." Block 16 was known for its prostitution, gambling and liquor, and was also known to draw more undesirable, rowdy type characters.
Some of those rowdy characters ended up in the corrugated iron jail, built in 1908, where temperatures inside often exceeded 117 degrees. One deputy was fired for removing prisoners from the jail and allowing them to be chained to trees by the Las Vegas Creek in an effort to keep them cool.
As the city and county grew, both police departments struggled to keep up with the times and reach all the citizens in the area as quickly as possible. Some of the foot patrols were replaced with patrol cars, and the first motorcycle officer, R. K. "Bob" Zeimer, started patrolling in 1929.
The first death of a Las Vegas police officer occurred on June 8, 1933, when an LVPD officer, Ernest James May,was shot and killed when he responded to a call of a drunken man shooting wildly at a local hotel. Officer May's death roused the attention of the public because they believed he wouldn't have died if he had a car radio to summon help. With financial assistance from the community, the LVPD received its first car radio in 1934.
A new jail was built in 1947, eliminating the dreaded "Blue Room" which had been built in 1910. The "Blue Room" had become a cockroach-infested jail that was more of a deterrent to crime than the police force. The total cost of the jail was $365,000 and it housed 250 prisoners.
During December 1947, Chief Robert Malburg took over the LVPD after the previous chief served six days in his position before committing suicide. Malburg's personal secretary, Annabelle Plunkett, became the first policewoman in Las Vegas in January 1948. She also continued her job as Malburg's secretary.
In an effort to reach the more rural areas of Clark County faster and to assist in hunting down criminals, a CCSO flying posse was formed in 1948. The posse's plane, which was equipped with walkie-talkies and first-aid kits, was also used to transport public officials.
The first civil service exams for the LVPD were held in August 1950. The exams were held for patrolmen with a starting salary of $250 per month and officers bought their own uniforms at $50 apiece. Fortunately, the new testing brought more officers to the area which was reaching a population well over 90,000. LVPD personnel quickly grew from 64 in 1953, to 91 in 1954.
By 1957, the CCSO had also grown. There were 52 deputies patrolling a land area of over 8,550 square miles. Their patrol area also included the "Strip" which had 13 resort hotels and 47 motels. With such a large area to patrol, the CCSO developed a Resident Officer program during the early 1960s. Resident stations were eventually built in Overton, Laughlin, Mt. Charleston, Indian Springs and Searchlight.
In 1966, the population of Clark County had risen to over 312,000. With two departments handling the area and a lack of communication between the two, suspects literally could cross a street to avoid being apprehended. To eliminate that problem and other concerns associated with two large law enforcement agencies, a committee was formed in 1968 to study the possibility of consolidating the LVPD and the CCSO. The consolidation law was introduced into the 1969 legislative session; however, it did not pass.
After several years, it was re-introduced as Senate Bill 340. It passed and became effective on July 1, 1973. The CCSO and LVPD were deactivated, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department became the official police force for Las Vegas and the unincorporated areas of Clark County.
The largest cost of the consolidation was that of salaries. The salary adjustment for equalization to all employees amounted to approximately $469,000. Besides cost factors, the two agencies experienced problems in unifying the forces. One problem was that officers continued to wear uniforms from their former agency.
The cost of standardizing all weapons and leather gear was $109,000. New uniforms, shoulder patches, badges and cap pieces came to $175,000. "Car 54 - What color are you?" was the headline of a local newspaper in reference to the different colored cars of both agencies. At a cost of $10,000, all patrol vehicles were painted the same color, tan & white.
Sheriff Ralph Lamb took over as the LVMPD head, with John Moran, former LVPD Police Chief, as the Undersheriff.
In spite of the problems involved in consolidation, the overall efficiency of the department improved. Boundaries were erased so that criminals could no longer find seclusion in one area or another. LVMPD officers now covered all areas formerly patrolled by two agencies.
LVMPD quickly grew into one of the finest police departments in the nation. In 1989, it became the 112th agency to achieve accreditation through C.A.L.E.A., and it was the first police agency in Nevada to receive the award. The department was reaccredited in 1994 and 1999. LVMPD was one of only 14 agencies in the nation in 1998 to be awarded the "triple crown" of accreditation (Commission on Accreditation for Corrections, C.A.L.E.A.,and National Commission on Correctional Healthcare) through the National Sheriff's Association.
LVMPD, already the largest police agency in Nevada, was also the 19th largest police jurisdiction in America. The jurisdiction population in the City of Las Vegas and the unincorporated areas of Clark County reached over 962,000 by the end of 1998.
To meet the demands of the growing population, five substations were located in various locations throughout the Las Vegas Valley: Southwest Area Command, Southeast Area Command, Northeast Area Command, Northwest Area Command, and Downtown Area Command.
By December 1999, the LVMPD, led by current Sheriff Jerry Keller, increased its personnel to 1,580 commissioned police officers and 973 civilian employees; Detention Services Division had 454 commissioned officers and 197 civilians.
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