Nevada Police Union slams timing of special session

CARSON CITY — The state police officers union is voicing displeasure with the announced date of a special legislative session because it will fall on the same day as a planned service for a highway patrol sergeant who was shot and killed in March.

Gov. Steve Sisolak announced Tuesday that a special legislative session would convene on July 8, where lawmakers are slated to address the state’s projected $1.3 billion budget shortfall for fiscal year 2021. Part of Sisolak’s proposed plan to close that gap includes furloughs for all state employees.

July 8 is also the date of a scheduled memorial service for Nevada Highway Patrol Sgt. Ben Jenkins, who was shot and killed in the line of duty outside of Ely in March.

In a statement Thursday, the Nevada Police Union called scheduling the session on the same day as the service for Jenkins “a disgrace,” while also lamenting on Sisolak’s planned cuts to state agencies.

“Not only is it an insult to the legacy and memory of Sgt. Ben Jenkins to conduct legislative business on the day the public safety community and the Nevada Police Union mourns and honors his ultimate sacrifice in protecting Nevada, but to add insult to injury, the governor and state legislators are meeting on the same day to cut the pay of Sgt. Jenkins’ colleagues,” Nevada Police Union President Matthew Kaplan said in the statement.

“The continued denigration of law enforcement is a disgrace. Sgt. Jenkins was tragically slain at work protecting Nevadans and what’s left is a grieving wife and children and a devastated public safety community. We think this sacrifice deserves to be honored,” Kaplan continued in the statement.

In the Wednesday announcement of the special session start date, Sisolak said July 8 was chosen after conversations with legislative leadership. Sisolak had initially signaled that the session would be held in late June before the new fiscal year started, but it was pushed back to early July after Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro asked for a delay so that preparations could be made.

Request for comment made to the governor, Frierson and Cannizzaro were not returned Thursday.

The service for Jenkins will be held in Elko, with a procession of vehicles starting at 9:30 a.m. and ending at Elko High School, where the service will be held outside due to COVID-19 restrictions. It will be live streamed on the Department of Public Safety’s Facebook page. Members of the public can attend, but all those who attend will have their temperatures checked and masks will be required.

On March 27, Jenkins was shot multiple times after he had pulled over on U.S. Highway 93 to check on a stranded motorist just north of Ely. The suspect in the shooting, John Dabritz, 66, was arrested and charged with murder, and prosecutors have filed a formal notice of intent to seek the death penalty.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.