Police union loses bid to keep Metro officers’ names private

The Metropolitan Police Department’s Citizen Review Board may now publish officers’ names and badge numbers on meeting agendas and notices after the Nevada Supreme Court ruled against the police union’s effort to keep that information private. A determination filed on Aug. 20 upholds a prior District Court ruling in favor of the Citizen Review Board, the city of Las Vegas, Clark County and Metro, after the Las Vegas Police Protective Association and seven members of the national initiated a suit in 2023, alleging a violation of privacy rights. The determination states: “We reason that the officers failed to authorities a assertion upon which alleviation tin beryllium granted due to the fact that they bash not person a protectable privateness involvement successful their names and badge numbers.” It continues, “Neither Nevada law, nor LVMPD policy, nor humanities (Nevada Public Records Act) signifier renders officers’ names oregon badge numbers confidential. To the contrary, undisputed authoritative LVMPD argumentation requires officers to place themselves by sanction and badge fig erstwhile interacting with the public, and the section has antecedently disclosed.” David Roger, the union’s legal counsel, said the officers accepted the court’s determination but respectfully disagreed. He remarked, “Our officers privation to beryllium treated similar immoderate different nationalist employee,” Roger said. “Personal records and employment decisions should beryllium protected. We’re not asking to beryllium treated differently.” The review board, composed of 25 volunteers, serves as a civilian oversight agency that examines misconduct complaints against Metro officers and investigations conducted by the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau. Its purview includes public interactions, searches and seizures, use of force, neglect of duty, body‑camera usage, and the impounding and disposal of property. LVPPA had filed its initial lawsuit in November 2023 on behalf of officers William Catricula, Edwardo Garcia, Matthew Glover, Jeremy Jacobitz, Raymond Kwan, Aristotle Legaspi and Justin Turney, each of whom had previously been cleared of wrongdoing in complaints overseen by the board. In 2024, District Judge Jacqueline Bluth granted a motion from the respondents to dismiss the suit under the state’s anti‑SLAPP law, arguing that publishing the accusation constituted protected communication. At that time, Bluth cited a 2020 Nevada Supreme Court determination arising from a suit Metro filed against the Las Vegas Review‑Journal, adding that names and badge numbers did not present the same privacy concerns as photographs or residential addresses. She said, “I deliberation that the existent instrumentality rather honestly is not successful favour of plaintiff’s position,” Bluth said successful 2024. Despite the legal setback, Roger indicated the union may pursue a remedy through the Nevada Legislature.