Spring 2000
Vol. 8, No. 2

Features

Twice-elected Sheriff Jerry Keller started out with a couple of different career ideas, but law enforcement wasn't one of them. The UNLV alumnus reflects on how and why he became the top cop in the fastest-growing city in the nation.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Jerry Keller

Metropolitan Man

BY DIANE RUSSELL

aw enforcement wasn't part of young Jerry Keller's life plan. Frankly, it wasn't even something he considered at the time he entered college. Instead, Keller began his young adulthood with aspirations quite different than most would think.

When he enrolled in Nevada Southern University in 1964, the native Las Vegan was much more interested in discovering a new species of plant or animal in the Mojave Desert than in arresting criminals.

The fact is that Keller, who has served on the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for the past 30 years and as sheriff for the last five, had decided to become a biologist when he began taking courses at the small university that would soon be known as UNLV.

Throughout his early college years, Keller continued pursuing his goal, refining it as he went along. He had enjoyed accompanying his science professors Jim Deacon, Glenn Bradley, and Chad Murvosh on off-road exploring trips in the area; he could envision himself tramping through the Nevada wilderness in the years to come, observing the plants and animals of the Mojave Desert. He had decided to become a field biologist.

But as graduation grew nearer, reality set in for Keller. He was newly married and needed a steady paycheck. Becoming a teacher seemed to him a safer bet for that than becoming a field biologist. So he changed his major, completed his studies, and graduated in 1969 with a bachelorŐs degree in education; he hoped to become a teacher at Valley High School, where he had done his student teaching.

He spent the summer after graduation working for the National Park Service while he waited to hear from the school district. During that time he received contract offers from schools in other states, but nothing in Southern Nevada.

Committed to remaining in Las Vegas and still mindful of that need for a steady income, Keller took the advice of a friend who had suggested he sign up for the police academy. When the Clark County School District finally did offer him a job as a general science teacher a couple of days before the start of school, Keller felt a sense of obligation about joining the police academy that led him to turn down the teaching post.

"I had no interest in being a police officer. I was married and needed work," he recalls of his very practical decision at the time. He adds that he thought he might stay on as a police officer for a while and then switch to another job. At least while working for the sheriff's department, he reasoned, he might be able to use his science background by working in the police lab.

So, on Sept. 8, 1969, Jerry Keller entered the police academy, setting the course for the rest of his professional life.

Now, with more than three decades of law enforcement experience behind him, it's difficult for Keller to imagine his life turning out differently.

Because while he thoroughly enjoyed biology — and can still rattle off the scientific names of most of the flora and fauna in Southern Nevada — he loves police work.

Exactly what is it he finds attractive about a career that often puts its practitioner's life at risk? What appeal does he see in a job that even on good days can mean dealing with unpleasant situations?

It's the people, he says.

"I love people, and I like fixing things," Keller says during an interview in his eighth-floor office at Las Vegas City Hall. "All cops by their very natures are rescuers, and I like finding solutions to problems and rescuing people."

Keller says he enjoys analyzing situations to determine how they can be made better and then taking the steps necessary to achieve that goal. "And that's what a lot of police work is about," he adds.



Keller trained in repelling, rock climbing and rope ascension.
Keller, top, received training in repelling, rock climbing and rock ascension while he was a sergeant in Metro's SWAT unit in the early 1980s.
n his way to the top post at Metro, Keller has held a variety of positions. He began his law enforcement career as a deputy sheriff on patrol; he went on to work in the planning and research office of the Clark County Sheriff's Department before it merged with the Las Vegas Police Department to form Metro. He then took an assignment in the crime lab where he was promoted to sergeant in 1975. After that, he served as a patrol sergeant, a SWAT sergeant, and then did a stint in internal affairs from 1983 to 1984, during which time he was promoted to lieutenant.

In 1984, he and fellow officer Ed Jensen began the Police Employees Assistance Program (PEAP) that still ranks among the proudest accomplishments of his career.

Keller says that both he and Jensen had been involved in a couple of shootings during their careers and knew both from their personal experiences and the experiences of their colleagues that the department was not doing what it might to help officers deal with problems related to traumatic incidents such as duty-related shootings.

The circumstances that usually surround police-involved shootings are unique, according to Keller. Often, they require officers to run toward a dangerous situation from which anyone else would flee, he says. Once on the scene, officers too often find a civilian — someone's father, brother, or daughter — pointing a gun at them and have no choice but to shoot, he says.

And in many cases, once the shooting ends, the officers find themselves giving CPR to the person they just shot because once that person is no longer a threat, it is the officers' duty to try to keep that person alive until medical help arrives, he adds.

That unique combination of factors can make shootings particularly traumatic for the officers involved, Keller says. In the old days, he says, fellow officers used to "take the officers out and get them drunk after a shooting and then take them home" instead of helping them deal with the issues, Keller says. He adds that he, Jensen, and others knew there must be a better way to handle those situations.

So, with the blessing of then-Sheriff John Moran, in September 1984 Keller and Jensen launched PEAP, a program designed to help all Metro employees — officers and civilians — deal with any personal problems that make it difficult for them to concentrate on their jobs.

"We knew we had cops out there who were foundering, who were good people," he says. "But they didn't want to go to the yellow pages to look for help."

Through PEAP, Metro employees and their family members can get confidential, professional help with a wide variety of problems. While post-traumatic-event counseling may be the most dramatic, people can and do seek help in dealing with everything from domestic abuse and alcoholism to troublesome teen-agers. Grief counseling is also a major component of PEAP.

"We said that with the assistance program in place we could reduce the use of force by officers, and we did by 70 percent the first year by dealing with the root causes of an officer's use of force rather than just the force itself. The program focused on what was causing normally good officers to change their behaviors and become more forceful, less subtle, and less tactful," he says.

Jensen stayed with PEAP, serving as its director until his retirement last December, but Keller went back to the SWAT unit in 1986, this time as a lieutenant. While there he formed the street narcotics unit.

In 1987 he was promoted to captain and with that promotion came a transfer back to the crime lab. He next served in a couple of patrol captain assignments before being promoted by Moran to the position of deputy chief in charge of administrative services in 1993. In that job he oversaw MetroŐs fleet, facilities, training, personnel, and recruitment. Then, with Moran set to retire, Keller ran for sheriff in 1994. He won and assumed the job in January 1995; he was re-elected in 1998.


Keller talks with D.A.R.E. participant Blake Hill.
Keller talks with D.A.R.E. participant Blake Hill in 1994 at a culmination ceremony for the drug abuse prevention program.

eller likes being sheriff, but then he says he has liked each and every assignment he's had as a police officer.

"I've loved every day I've been a cop — every single day."

Keller demurs when asked about his accomplishments as sheriff.

"As sheriff I have no single accomplishment that is mine and mine alone," he says. "My accomplishments are all the product of the hard work of the 3,700 men and women of Metro. I'm the guy who gets to be out front leading the parade with the baton. I'm the guy who gets to ride the wave of everybody else's work.

"My greatest accomplishment is just knowing that I'm still a member of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, that I have been for 30 years, and that I've had the chance to work with some outstanding individuals, civilian and commissioned. It's a job that has the highest standards in America. I'm very proud of the men and women and what they do."

Ed Jensen, the recently retired PEAP lieutenant who has been Keller's friend and colleague for 25 years (and who also happens to be a UNLV alumnus), says that two of the reasons Keller makes a good sheriff are that he has a big heart and is a good listener. Additionally, Jensen says, Keller trusts his people to do their jobs.

"He allows us to have our education and training and then use them to make our own decisions," Jensen says.

When Keller is asked if he will run for a third term in 2002, he replies, "You know, I'm having a great time. If I still have challenges in front of me, if I'm still having fun coming to work every single day, I don't see why I wouldn't."

But does he ever wish he had used his education degree to become a teacher?

Knowing what he knows now about his love of police work, he says he's glad he chose it over a career in education. But he points out that he's had his chance to teach over the years, sometimes as a part-time instructor for UNLV's criminal justice department and sometimes as a guest lecturer at both UNLV and the Community College of Southern Nevada. He says he's greatly enjoyed those opportunities.

Also, he says he feels he often has filled the role of teacher when, as a police officer or as sheriff , he's had the opportunity to educate the public about various issues. And, even if he had never taught a course, Keller says the education he received at UNLV wouldn't have been wasted.

"I got an excellent education at UNLV. From the academic side to the mentoring I received to the perspective I gained on the environment, I truly had an outstanding education. What I learned at UNLV was how to communicate. I learned the process of communication, what it takes to be clear, concise, and complete," he says. "No one ever leaves my office without knowing what we discussed."

Most of his friends who attended Western High School with him went to out-of-state colleges. But Keller says he can't imagine getting a better education than he did at UNLV.

"It was like going to a private college," he says. "It was so small that you could go find the professors in their offices, and they would take the time to sit with you and explain very complex concepts."

Professors such as Deacon and Murvosh took personal interest in their students and became mentors and role models, Keller says.

Deacon remembers Keller clearly. "He was one of the most enthusiastic students I've ever had," Deacon says. "He participated in much of the biology field work we were doing in those days. He was friendly and gregarious, a real pleasure to teach."
Sheriff Jerry Keller
Today, Keller counts serving 30 years on the department as one of his greatest accomplishments.


And Keller hasn't forgotten his alma mater over the years. He often accepts requests to serve as a guest lecturer in government and leadership classes. Additionally, for the past several years he has served as a speaker at the UNLV Alumni Association's Career Day events.

In 1999, the Alumni Association showed its appreciation by naming him Alumnus of the Year, the highest honor awarded to a graduate by the association.

"I was astounded when I was selected from among the thousands of UNLV alumni," he says. "It is a great honor for me and a very humbling experience to be recognized by my peers."

As for his future, Keller says he still has one very specific career-related goal ahead of him.

"I want to work myself out of work," he says. "I fully intend to be part of the team that wrestles crime to the ground so that we no longer need the police. I don't know that that ever will be accomplished, but that's my goal."

It's more than just professional pride that drives him to attain that goal, he says. It's something that's even more important to Keller than his law enforcement career — his family.

In addition to Charlotte, his wife of 10 years, Keller's son and two of his three daughters live in Southern Nevada, as well as three of his four grandchildren.

"I want my grandchildren to enjoy the very same quality of life I had as a young child in this town," he says. "They are the reason I still work every day to make this a better city."

*Online Class Notes Submission Form

Back