Recent civil rights lawsuits have drawn greater scrutiny over the Las Vegas City Marshals, the police agency that operates under the City of Las Vegas.

The marshals work alongside the much larger Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to protect buildings, land and property owned, leased or controlled by the city of Las Vegas, such as the Fremont Street Experience, parks, trails and other city facilities.

But the boundaries of their jurisdiction, including for traffic stops, have come under question in several recent lawsuits. The Indy explores those issues and more background on the marshals:

What is a deputy city marshal? 

City marshals are trained peace officers with a limited jurisdiction who operate under the City of Las Vegas’ Department of Public Safety. A job posting for the marshals provided by the city lists duties such as enforcing city ordinances and regulations on any property controlled by the city, serving warrants and subpoenas, transporting prisoners or maintaining their custody while they are detained, as well as making arrests on city property. 

There are 91 Deputy City Marshals and 180 Corrections Officers currently working for the city, according to Jace Radke, spokesperson for the City of Las Vegas, who also said salaries and benefits for the Department of Public Safety amounted to $76 million, with a full budget is $105.6 million.

In Las Vegas, a city that has grown rapidly since the 1950s, UNLV history professor Michael Green said city marshals didn’t have much federal or public property to patrol until the later half of the 20th century. 

According to a timeline of the department’s history, the city created the Las Vegas Department of Detention and Correctional Services in 1981 and expanded it to include the park ranger unit the next year. The park ranger unit was renamed the Deputy City Marshal unit in 1992. 

What is their jurisdiction?

Five lawsuits have been filed against the marshals this year, including two related to arrests outside of the marshal’s jurisdiction. 

One was brought by Derek Myers, who was arrested by city marshals on a Las Vegas highway for a traffic violation, though no official charges were filed. Myers refused to cooperate with officials as he said they were outside of their jurisdiction.

“The marshals only had jurisdiction where they were supposed to be and they were not supposed to be on the highway where I was at,” Myers said in an interview with KTNV in May. 

The other was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada on behalf of Lance Downes-Covington, who was also stopped by the marshals for a traffic violation. 

After the lawsuit by the ACLU — which alleged that traffic stops on state or federal highways are outside of the marshals’ jurisdiction — the marshal website changed to include specific mention of municipal street and traffic laws as part of their job duties, according to Chris Peterson, legal director of the Nevada ACLU. Prior to the change, archives show the website does not mention traffic. 

As recently as March, the department’s Public Safety Strategy Plan 2025-2028 outlines their jurisdiction as “patrolling city-owned property, including parks.” 

Both lawsuits against the city were filed in federal court and are ongoing. Myers is now facing DUI charges in Las Vegas for a separate traffic case. 

Attorney George Robinson, who is representing a client in a separate lawsuit related to marshals using excessive force, said he doesn’t understand why marshals are patrolling outside of their jurisdiction. 

“It just sounds outrageous. Why would you create more work for yourself?” Robinson asked.

According to Rick McCann, a longtime law enforcement lobbyist who founded Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers, marshals are sworn to protect people — if they witness a serious crime, they have an obligation to enforce the law. McCann said there are times when jurisdictional officers have to step outside of their usual patrol areas. 

“They are peace officers, they are sworn to protect,” McCann said. “Should we just allow criminals to walk away?” 

Neither Nevada State Police, the agency responsible for patrolling state and federal highways, nor Las Vegas police responded when asked if they felt the need for marshals to help with traffic patrol duties. 

How do marshals differ from police officers?

Radke said Metro police and the marshals work “closely” together, especially in downtown Las Vegas. According to its website, city marshals “exercise concurrent authority” with Las Vegas police within the city limits.

However, Metro officers have freedom to patrol the extent of Clark County, while deputy marshals are confined to city property. With a total of 271 city marshals and corrections officers, the marshal unit is small compared to Metro’s 3,300 commissioned officers. 

Their pay is different as well: Starting annual pay for deputy city marshals is $55,158 with a cap of $88,310, while the lowest paid Metro officers receive an annual salary of $64,272 and the highest are paid up to $113,343, according to a Las Vegas police spokesperson. 

Peterson said marshals do not have the same experience as other police officers who conduct routine law enforcement duties at regular intervals, saying the marshals might “panic” and “pull out a firearm.” 

“This is not a theoretical exercise,” Peterson said, pointing to the number of cases against city marshals. “They are not prepared to be handling [traffic stops] and to be acting this way.” 

City marshals go through the same basic training, the Peace Officers and Standards Training (POST). There are three categories of training. Marshals are Category 1 certified, which entails an 18-week course that includes training on basic traffic laws and laws related to highway patrol. Categories 2 and 3 are shorter, more fundamental and are taught online. 

According to McCann, critics see marshals as less capable than police officers. But, just as there are good and bad police officers, there are good and bad marshals, he said. 

“Nay-sayers see these cops as rent-a-cops,” McCann said. “They are not. They are POST-certified peace officers. I expect them to perform accordingly.” 

Peterson said the basic training is not enough to handle many police scenarios. He said riding alongside a supervising officer is crucial in learning how to conduct police duties. 

“[The recent lawsuits] are deeply concerning,” Peterson said. “Especially when you’re trying to push to expand your jurisdiction to have your officers take on new tasks that they are not necessarily prepared for.” 

When asked if marshals are regularly conducting routine police duties, such as traffic stops, on top of their basic training, Radke declined to answer specifically. 

“In terms of training, the Marshals are POST certified just like Metro Police and have annual training requirements that they must meet per POST certification standards,” Radke said in an email. 

Peterson accused marshals of acting like the city’s police department, instead of a specialized category of law enforcement with limited powers. 

“We have a very weird situation in this state where we basically have a shadow police force that is part of a shadow municipal system,” Peterson said. “That is redundant. We don’t need city marshals; there’s nothing that the city marshals are doing that the Las Vegas police department cannot do.” 

Why have marshal duties expanded? 

Articles as early as the 1990s showcase a city marshal service looking to expand their duties. A Las Vegas Sun article from 1999 titled “Metro questions need for marshals” begins with an unlawful traffic stop by a deputy marshal and noted city officials have “quietly beefed up” the agency with “sweeping powers that surprise even Metro’s brass.” 

Green said a potential reason for the changing mission scope could be agency leadership — the past three department heads, including current Chief Marshal Jason Potts, are former police officers. 

In a video posted by the city when he was first appointed Department of Public Safety director, Potts said he had 25 years of policing experience that included border patrol, SWAT experience, investigations and emergency services. In the video, a voiceover explains that Potts oversees the marshals, “who keep city parks and properties safe.” 

Another factor Peterson noted could be the 1972 merger of the Clark County Sheriff's Department and City of Las Vegas Police Department. 

“It looks like the city of Las Vegas is using the marshals more and more like a general police force, when statute clearly places the limitation on what marshals can do,” Peterson said. 

According to reporting from KTNV, former Clark County District Attorney and police union general counsel David Roger wrote in a 2014 legal opinion that the marshals’ jurisdiction was limited to property owned or controlled by the city. 

“While a deputy city marshal is a peace officer and may enforce state laws, the legislature has restricted their jurisdiction,” Roger wrote. 

Another lawsuit in 2023, cited in the ACLU lawsuit this year against the city, states that marshals have a “limited jurisdiction agency whose duties are necessarily limited to protection of city property and operation of the city jail.”

At one point, marshals were by law explicitly prohibited from making arrests outside of the boundaries of their jurisdiction, according to KTNV. A 1993 law change includes a specific mention of traffic violations as being outside the scope of marshal duties. 

By 1995, this language had been removed and state law designated marshals as “person’s possessing powers of peace officers.” Peace officers have a duty to arrest someone who commits a crime in front of them, which would mean that a marshal witnessing a crime on the highway should arrest that perpetrator. 

In 1993, marshals were not listed as peace officers, nor were they required to undergo basic police training as they were later in 1995.