Testimony Assembly Committee on Government Affairs March 17, 2017 Chief Patrick Moers, Henderson Police Department Good morning Mr. Chair and members of the committee. For the record, Patrick Moers, Police Chief for the Henderson Police Department Thank you for inviting me to your committee for today s discussion. As I get into my remarks, I d like to give some quick background on the Henderson Police Department. The Henderson Police Department serves a population of approximately 300,000 people. We have over 600 total employees. Approximately 360 are police officers, with 90 in corrections and the rest working as professional staff and volunteers. The organizational structure of our department begins with the Chief at the top. I have two Deputy Chiefs below me, that basically divide the department into two halves. One Deputy Chief is over the Operations Command which has four Division Captains. The Operations Command has about 300 employees. This includes 150 patrol officers, plus animal control officers, problem solving officers, traffic officers, and community relations officers. Page 1 of 7
The second Deputy Chief is over the Support Command which also has four Division Captains. The Support Command has about 300 employees and consists primarily of detectives, SWAT and K9 units, narcotics, technical services and the detention center (otherwise known as our city jail). The department has a budget of about $90 million dollars and incorporates several million dollars in federal grants for public safety programs, which can include traffic enforcement, commercial vehicle enforcement, testing sexual assault kits, providing a domestic violence advocate for victims, and buying radios and bullet proof vests for officers, to name just a few. Now, I would like to move back to the Support side of my department where we have a Detention Center that employs about 90 corrections officers and that houses a total of 540 inmates. However, that 540 is split in half. About 240-260 of the available beds are usually occupied by Henderson residents, meaning residents that are arrested for domestic battery, DUI, other misdemeanors who our officers arrest and take off the streets. They are sent to our detention center to receive sentencing or to serve out a sentence. The other half of the beds are reserved for contract inmates this means folks that a Henderson police officer did not arrest, but someone arrested from another law enforcement agency which may not have its own jail, or may have a full jail themselves, or has contracted with Henderson to provide the housing. Page 2 of 7
Today, we have contracts with Las Vegas Metro (who have removed all prisoners), Boulder City, Paiute Tribe, National Park Service, U.S. Marshalls, and ICE (the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency). Now before I go into why we house ICE inmates and deal with immigration detainees, which I believe is the reason we are having this discussion, let me paint a picture of our recent jail expansion and why we are in the business of housing contract inmates from different agencies. In 2010 we expanded our jail to its current configuration of 540 beds. Prior to the expansion, we only had 200 beds. In simplistic terms, 200 beds worked for us when we had a population of a little over 200,000. As we grew to 250,000, we knew we had to expand. But if we expanded, we knew we had the land capacity to support a population of 500,000 in the distant future, so any planned expansion had to take this into consideration. That is how we arrived at an expansion achieving a total of 540 beds. But since we also knew our population would not need all those beds in the immediate future, and we were making a major investment in the expansion, the plan included seeking contract inmates to help fund the expanded operation. Some may ask why we didn t just build the 540 beds, but only house the 200+ Henderson inmates and not worry about filling the remaining beds. Unfortunately, it doesn t work like that you can t just put all those housed in the jail in one area. Page 3 of 7
The law requires us to segregate or classify inmates to prevent potential issues, such as males and females in respective areas, non-violent criminals in a section, same for violent criminals, gang members, medical segregation and so on. The whole jail footprint must be monitored and utilized whether there are 20 inmates in a section or 100 in each section. I also need correction officers in all areas and in walkways. In total, these contracts may earn the City approximately $9 million to $10 million per year. Contract rates include the feeding, housing, and care and medical expenses of the inmates. Now turning to our contract with the U.S. Marshals Service, which is also the basis for the arrangement under which ICE detainees are housed in our jail. The fact of the matter is we entered this arrangement with the desire of bringing federal money into our community. Since these contracts are helping to fund our operations, that means a majority of our corrections officers are funded indirectly with those contract dollars. Having about 90 corrections officers funded in large part through these outside dollars certainly helps ease the burden on our general fund. This in turn helps to fund other aspects of the city, so we are proud that we re able to do this creatively and effectively. Page 4 of 7
With that all said, and with your permission Mr. Chair, I d like to go through our responses to the questions that we were provided by the Committee: Committee Questions: 1) Do you participate in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Program 287(G) in any way? Currently we do not participate in 287(G). which allows The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to deputize local law enforcement officers to perform the functions of federal immigration agents. Also, we currently do not use the 48 hour detainers either that ICE may provide a law enforcement agency to hold an inmate. But we are a little unique in why we do not. Currently, there is a full-time ICE employee within our detention facility. Because of the contract we have with ICE and this employee in the facility, the transfer of custody from a Henderson inmate into an ICE detainee is more efficient. 2) When information is requested by the Department of Homeland Security what is the process in providing that information? Does it get provided at all? If ICE asks for information, it is shared with the ICE employee housed in the facility. ICE does not have access to our systems. 3) Do you send your officers into the field with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers? We have a policy (DP402) that restricts our officers from stopping or detaining based on immigration status. We do not join forces with ICE agents for immigration enforcement activities (i.e. stings or roundups ). Page 5 of 7
4) Do you ever provide DHS any information without it being requested? Yes. We have a contract with them and an ICE employee in the facility, so much of this information is administrative in nature, as detailed below: INFORMATION PROVIDED TO ICE: this list includes information that is commonly shared with ICE regarding ICE detainees in the HDC facility. 1. HDC admin sends a weekly report to ICE that provides the name, housing assignment, inmate ID, and booking date for ICE detainees under contract booking. 2. Weekly ADP reports are given to the Detention Standard Compliance Officer of ICE (DSCO). 3. The DSCO receives segregation reports from classifications as well as any inmate reports for their detainees generated by HDC officers. 4. Billing information (detainee s names and booking dates), sack lunch billing, and medical billing are all shared with ICE. Medical billing involves ICE and third party medical providers. 5. ICE personnel reviews information in the JMS (Offender Trak) via HDC DCT s as well as inmate folders in the booking area. (booking summary, ICE booking packet, inmate grievances, copies of non-criminal reports) 6. The DSCO reviews classification folders for any detainee placed in segregation. (Classification sheet), criminal history, scope, Triple III, gang information may be included if applicable. Page 6 of 7
5) Do you get any federal grants that are contingent upon you cooperating with DHS? Under 8 U.S.C. 1373, it requires all law enforcement agencies to comply if you are going to receive federal funding. This document essentially requires that HPD cooperate and share information with ICE in order to maintain Federal grants. 6) What are your hiring processes? HPD proudly hires a culturally diverse cross-section of personnel for all areas of the Department. Selections are made based on qualifications, performance in the testing process, and background information. Page 7 of 7