The next sheriff of Clark County, NV, will face two daunting tasks—getting rid of rogue or outlaw Metro police officers and instilling a culture of accountability. However, he absolutely must do both, or good, honorable police officers on the Metro force will face the wrath of increasingly outraged, distrustful citizens.
To the latter point, this week, one of our most tireless, loyal "Erik's Warriors" cited a news story written by John B. Whitehead, attorney, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of A Government of Wolves, entitled, "The Growing Epidemic of Police Violence: Is It Time to De-Militarize Police Forces?" She noted that a shocked Las Vegas Metro police officer had claimed, in his 25 years of law enforcement work, he'd never seen more violence toward cops than today. She replied, "As he was saying that, I was thinking, 'DITTO.' [I’ve never seen more] violence from police against citizens, the mentally ill, babies, young people, the elderly, and especially pets.”
The Right Sheriff (TRS) knows all too well that cops are directly responsible for any increased violence aimed at them. As a group, they’re reaping what they sowed. Americans, in general, and Las Vegas residents, in particular, are extremely fed up and disgusted by out-of-control, militarized, arrogant police officers. And TRS is acutely aware that he has very little time to get rid of Metro's dozen or so "crazies"—a moniker fellow officers gave their killer-cop brethren, such as William Mosher and Bryan Yant—before angry natives revolt and literally start hunting down Metro cops.
Consequently, The Right Sheriff will attack the "crazies" problem head-on, regardless of predictable whining and legal objections from a venal, malfeasant Police Protective Association that should be decertified and disbanded. I predict Las Vegas citizens and honest county commissioners will back the new sheriff’s “Rid the Ranks of Rogues” campaign a hundred percent.
Next up is the daunting job of changing an incredibly corrupt Metropolitan Police Department culture that routinely condones abuse and murders of the very people paying cops' salaries. The Right Sheriff has no choice but to institute stringent accountability standards, if he expects to improve internal morale and gain the trust and loyalty of his good officers, who are as revolted and demoralized as Clark County’s cop-abused citizens.
The new boss will immediately implement a standard of accountability that would be unthinkable under the malfeasant administrations of Doug Gillespie, Bill Young and their predecessors. In essence, TRS will require Metro officers to adopt and inculcate the spirit of an Honor Code that U.S. Military Academy graduates—such as my son, the late-Erik Scott—lived by:
“A cadet will not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do.”
No longer will patrol officers be allowed to look the other way, when their outlaw brothers- and sisters-in-brown commit an act of misconduct. And, when the infamous "Blue (or Brown) Wall” of silence is erected, and transparent lying proliferates in the name of "protecting one of our own," The Right Sheriff will fire each and every cop, who openly condones malfeasance and protects a crooked outlaw in their midst. Further, any police union thug, who dares to threaten an honest whistleblower, or blindly backs a Metro killer-cop, will be upbraided and, possibly, dismissed. The PPA’s unlawful counsel of bald-faced insubordination will simply not be tolerated by TRS and his good, professional officers. To paraphrase Checkmate’s message in “The Permit,” You kill, you lie, you’re gone. Period.
It won't take long for honest cops to line up behind The Right Sheriff and support his campaign of cleansing. It might get ugly, but good, honest officers will do whatever it takes to get rid of moronic thug cops, including complicit supervisors. The days of rampant “cowboy cops” that now constitute 25-30 percent of Metro’s ranks are numbered.
How will The Right Sheriff destroy Metro’s rotten culture? Ex-lawmen, retired senior military officers and corporate executives have shared the following suggestions:
- Change the language. Police officers will no longer refer to themselves and their chosen career field as “Law Enforcement.” They will now call themselves “Peace Officers,” and will act accordingly. Metro cops will be told every single day that their job is to keep the peace on Clark County streets, not find questionable excuses to “enforce” the law at any cost.
- Scrub the nauseating “Partners with the Community” pablum from Metro cruisers and replace it with an old-school police motto, “Protect and Serve.” Again, every cop wearing a Metro badge will change his attitude and demeanor to reflect a true protect-and-serve mentality. Those who won’t or can’t will be looking for a job.
- Institute a policy that any Metro officer participating in an officer-involved shooting or incident resulting in death or severe injury will be questioned at length by an outside investigative agency; automatically take a lie detector test, and immediately be tested for illegal and prescription drugs, including steroids and so-called “growth hormones.”
- Completely revamp the Metro police academy training program. Inputs and advice from active-duty and retired police officers will be solicited, as will suggestions from outside agencies, consultants and families of Metro shooting victims. While details are yet to be defined, Metro’s upgraded training regimen will be the antithesis of today’s, which was articulated quite well in the previously referenced news article:
“Yet the tension inherent in most civilian-police encounters these days…goes far deeper, to a transformation in the way police view themselves and their line of duty. Specifically, what we’re dealing with today is a skewed shoot-to-kill mindset in which police, trained to see themselves as warriors or soldiers in a war, whether against drugs, or terror, or crime, must “get” the bad guys—ie., anyone who is a potential target—before the bad guys get them. The result is a spike in the number of incidents in which police shoot first, and ask questions later.
“Just as troubling as this ‘shoot-first-ask-questions-later” mindset is what investigative journalist Katie Rucke uncovered about how police are being trained to use force without hesitation and report their shootings in such a way as to legally justify a shot. [Jack, a concerned citizen, who went undercover to attend law enforcement training classes] said ‘these trainers consistently promote more aggression and criticize hesitation to use force. …They argue that the risk of making a mistake is worth it to absolutely minimize risk to the officer. And they teach officers how to use the law to minimize legal repercussions in almost any scenario. All of this is, of course, done behind the scenes, with no oversight from police administrators, much less the public.’”
Worth it to absolutely minimize risk to the officer? No way. Not for my dead son, Erik, or me. Not to the loved ones of all Metro’s victims. Most would be alive today, if an amped-up, quick-to-shoot killer-cop had demonstrated a smidgen of courage, good judgment and restraint, instead of shooting an innocent citizen.
The Right Sheriff will weed out Metro’s chicken cops and replace them with old-school lawmen–men and women who have the courage to confront danger, yet hesitate long enough to give a “target” the benefit of doubt, instead of saving their own hides at any cost.
Finally, The Right Sheriff will lead from the front, not from behind a headquarters desk or cocktail glass. If an officer-involved shooting takes place, TRS will race to the scene and get a timely first-hand look at the situation. And, if he spots a guilty Metro cop’s “throwdown” gun, or smells the stench of another imbecilic Patrick Neville-orchestrated coverup, The Right Sheriff will immediately detain the on-scene shooters and cover-up architect. He absolutely will not tolerate liars and cover-up artists on Las Vegas Metro’s force. The decades-old routine of kill-and-cover is ended.
In my opinion, The Right Sheriff is Ted Moody. Elect Ted as the next sheriff, and LVMPD has a fighting chance of gaining the trust and support of about two million Clark County citizens.
William B. Scott
