LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – The UNLV Police Department is experiencing a critical shortage of officers.
The university confirms they have 20 vacancies they are trying to fill.
In an interview with FOX5, Chief Arnold Vasquez with the University Police Department was transparent about how they are recruiting new officers.
“With the critical labor shortage, that gives us an opportunity to leverage and to hire people that already have the experience in law enforcement. That way, they come in and hit the ground running,” Vasquez said.
According to UNLV, back in January, Vasquez got approval from the board of regents to hire retired state employees, he had to get this approval by requesting a critical shortage designation for specific law enforcement positions.
As the critical staffing shortage has been ongoing, FOX5 found there was a staffing shortage day of the UNLV campus shooting.
On Dec. 6th 2023, a gunman walked into Beam Hall and killed three professors.
FOX5’s Victoria Saha: Are you confident your team is able to handle something similar to December 6? If it were to happen again even with the shortage?
Vasquez: Absolutely, there’s a number of things. I’ve been in this profession for a few decades myself. Throughout the course as my time as a law enforcement officer, not only have I experienced things from where I came from in terms of critical incidents, but across the country every time we have something like this happens at that level.
Across the country, we are quickly evaluating things over the process. What were the training components that worked really well? Where are the gaps in our response? So just like the tragedy on Dec. 6, 2023 at UNLV we have also reviewed those things. We have also determined how can we better deploy our folks. How can we better train them? How can we include Las Vegas Police?
During the Dec. 6 shooting, it was two UNLV campus officers who took down the gunman within minutes.
Saha: Despite your heroic actions, were you guys short-staffed on that day?
Vasquez: First, I want to say that the officers that addressed the threat and ended the threat that day will always be heroes in my eyes.
I think they did exactly what they have been trained to do and I like to think regardless of what uniform or badge you are wearing, officers who had confronted that threat would have reacted the same way. It just so happened that it was our officers that day. To answer your question about staffing that day, yes. This has been an ongoing issue of us having our full compliment of full staffing and it was that day as well.
Vasquez tells FOX5 on the day of the shooting, there were about 25 percent vacancies within their staff of 73.
Since that tragic day, safety measures have been heightened on campus.
UNLV police hired a private security company that is armed 24/7.
According to the university as they work to fill approximately 20 vacancies they also added these new positions recently:
- Police Officer Recruits (PO-I) – 6
- Police Officer Laterals (PO-II) – 3
- Public Safety Dispatcher – 3
- Community Service Officers (CSO) – 5
- Student Cadets – 2
- Non-sworn and Administrative Staff – 5
- Threat Assessment and Emergency Management – 2
Vasquez said he hopes to get positions filled by July.
Have a tip? You can reach reporter Victoria Saha at [email protected].
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