The chief of the union representing Las Vegas police defended against accusations of misconduct in a news conference Thursday morning.
Executive director Chris Collins is in hot water.
The board at the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, the state’s largest police union, is trying to oust Collins, alleging numerous acts of misconduct, most of them centering on him taking action either against or without approval of the board.
Collins vowed to fight for his job and insisted he did nothing wrong, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Thursday.
Las Vegas Sun reporter Ana Ley told KNPR's State of Nevada the allegations surfaced in a memo from the union’s treasurer Scott Nicholas.
Nicholas alleges six acts of misconduct, including using money for a campaign mailer for sheriff candidate Larry Burns, even though Collins acknowledged Burns was not going win and approving salary increases for Collins wife, who is a lawyer for the union, without the board’s approval.
"It is not good for their public image," Ley said.
The furor comes in the middle of the legislative session where several laws are being discussed that would change how unions work in Nevada.
One of the biggest allegation against Collins is that he has not fought hard enough against one of those bills, which would stop union executives from using tax payer money for union efforts. Ley believes that is a factor in this fight.
"That's a big motivating factor in trying to remove him from the board," Ley said. "It seems like it is very, very connected to that."
The accusations are not criminal, but do violate union bylaws.
Ana Ley, police reporter, Las Vegas Sun
