LAS VEGAS — There are new developments in the controversy over a video showing North Las Vegas Police riding motorcycles on the UNLV campus without permission and immediately after a Black Lives Matter spoken word event.
Students believe the officers were trying to intimidate them.

It happened on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday, the university’s president, Len Jessup, demanded an apology from police. On Thursday, the Black Lives Matter group came forward and also demanded an apology.

Vera Anderson was one of the poets speaking that night and she says that the police presence was out of place.
“Like what are you doing here? This is where students walk,” said Anderson.

Aaron Patty is the spokesperson for the North Las Vegas Police Department and says this is all just a big misunderstanding and officers had no idea that a Black Lives Matter event was taking place.
He says those motorcycle cops were just looking for a tight space to train in.

“This helps create an environment for them where they can do low-speed training in and around tight obstacles that’s challenging for them,” said Patty.

Anderson says she understands that officers need to train but she thinks they could have done so in a way that didn’t alarm the students on campus.

“I definitely think officers need to train, and they need to train on multi-cultural competence. They know black and brown people are afraid of them or think they might get hurt,” said Anderson. “So maybe when they saw all those black people, they could’ve stopped and said, ‘Hey we’re just doing some training.’ Instead, they said nothing.”

Officer Patty admits the department should have let UNLV know they would be there, but he stresses the fact that his officers in no way meant to offend anyone.

“Last night, we had no intention to, we had no mal-intent as far as going down there and attempting to stir the pot in any way or intimidate any folks,” said Patty.
On Thursday, UNLV released another statement:

“We continue to have a dialogue with the North Las Vegas Police Department. UNLV has a written memorandum of understanding with the Metropolitan Police Department and is in the midst of developing one with the Henderson Police Department. It is common practice for police agencies to notify other organizations when coming on their property and respect ongoing events.”

The school says so far, the police department has not released an official apology to the university or to its students.

Source: http://news3lv.com/news/local/unlv-president-students-demand-apology-from-nlvpd-following-black-lives-matter-event