LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A state senate bill that would have expanded the jurisdiction and authority of Las Vegas City Marshals and Clark County Park Rangers was gutted at the last minute, allowing the sheriff to keep control of Southern Nevada law enforcement entities.
The proposed law change came on the heels of my investigation into city marshals overstepping their authority.
I broke the story of Derek Myers, a local man who was pulled over by Las Vegas City Marshals on the freeway — where they don't have jurisdiction.
WATCH: State lawmakers consider city marshals, county park rangers jurisdiction
After Myers spent 17 hours in a Las Vegas jail on suspicion of DUI, he filed a federal lawsuit against the city claiming he was falsely accused and cited a cited a "pattern of misconduct" by a "rogue law enforcement agency" that potentially affects thousands of Las Vegas locals.
On Friday, Myers testified before the Senate Government Affairs Committee.
"Metro does already what this bill has and is pushing for."
It's something that committee member Lisa Krasner also questioned.
"I'm just wondering," Sen. Krasner said. "Why do you feel that we need this bill?"
PART ONE | Our investigation began after Derek Myers reached out to 13 Investigates alleging Las Vegas City Marshals overstepped their authority.
Under current state law, marshals and park rangers are strictly limited in where they can enforce the law.
City marshals have jurisdiction over real property owned, leased or otherwise under the city's control.
It's the same for county park rangers, who asked Committee Chair Edgar Flores to introduce the bill.
"We currently patrol all Clark County parks and all Clark County properties," Kenneth Hawkes, from the Clark County Law Enforcement Association, explained. "What this would do, subsection F, would just allow Metro to provide us some additional jurisdiction or some protections if we're acting outside of those properties."
However, they'd only be able to do that if the LVMPD Sheriff allows it in a written agreement.
"The sheriff is tasked with keeping our county safe," Myers said. "Metro has the resources, the experience and the jurisdiction to handle everything that this bill wants to hand over to the marshals and the rangers, and we don't need to be duplicating efforts."
When our investigation aired a little over a week ago, Metro told me it did not support Senate Bill 449. However, this last minute amendment kept it alive and gained support from the city and Metro.
PART TWO | After Derek Myers bailed out of jail, he started watching and recording the city marshals with help from a local freelance photojournalist. Our investigation continues:
Myers remained opposed, highlighting the impact to taxpayers.
"The City of Las Vegas is strapped for cash. We're talking more than $636 million lost in the Badlands lawsuit, millions more in legal fees, hiring freezes, budget cuts. The marshals budget alone, according to a local report by Darcy Spears at Channel 13 is ballooning to $204 million this fiscal year," Myers said. "That's up $13 million from last year, and for what? A group who, by law, are supposed to stick to city property, parks, buildings, and the Fremont Street Experience. They're not sticking to that. We have a federal lawsuit alleging a pattern of marshals overstepping their jurisdiction, arresting people on highways, searching cars on public streets, racking up potentially thousands of class action claims, and that's not just a legal headache, it's a taxpayer nightmare."
The committee heard the proposed bill but did not take any action.
WATCH FULL HEARING: State lawmakers discuss Senate Bill 449