Ray Brewer: From the Pressbox

For Henderson cop, community policing was almost a walk in the park

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Eric Nielsen, a Henderson police officer who was a standout athlete at Silverado High School around the turn of the century, sixth from left, poses for a picture with a group of Henderson teens after they got together recently at Mountain View Park for a game of four-on-four football with Nielsen as the designated quarterback. Of his time with the teens, Nielsen commented, “Hopefully they said that cop can throw rockets and he’s a good man. Hopefully it made their day, because it sure made mine.”

Mon, Oct 26, 2020 (2 a.m.)

Henderson Police Officer Eric Nielsen drove past a group of teenagers playing touch football while on patrol earlier this month and immediately started thinking of his childhood.

His group of friends would spend countless hours at the park competing in every sport imaginable — pickup basketball, home run derby or football among them.

“Once an athlete, always an athlete. Let’s see if I still have it,” the 38-year-old cop reasoned with himself.

He shouted out to the group on the police-vehicle speaker to ask if he could join the game at Mountain View Park on Wigwam Parkway. Imagine the shock of the teens? Here’s a law enforcement officer in full uniform wanting to start a relationship.

He was the designated quarterback in a 4-on-4 game, threw a few “tight spiral” touchdown passes and feels he made a lasting impression. He also gave the youngsters a few words of encouragement.

When they finished, one of the teen’s mothers snapped a photo. It was posted to social media, where the comments and responses have been overwhelmingly positive. It shows a group of Black teens and a middle-age white police officer sharing a common interest.

The relationship between law enforcement and the Black community has been even more strained this summer after the in-custody death of a Black man at the hands of white Minnesota police officers and the excessive shooting of an unarmed Black man by white Wisconsin officers. There have been demonstrations in many cities, some peaceful — others not so much.

Teens are impressionable. They surely have seen reports of inexcusable, bad policing. Nielsen was determined to make sure they saw the other side of law enforcement.

“We aren’t robots. We are humans, too,” Nielsen said. “Hopefully those kids realize that. Who knows what the conversation was when they got home? Hopefully they said ‘That cop can throw rockets and he’s a good man.’ Hopefully it made their day, because it sure made mine.”

Nielsen didn’t ask to join the game on orders from his superiors to enhance relations with the community. And he doesn’t want the publicity for a simple game of football and a few minutes of community policing. He repeatedly stressed that wasn’t his intent.

The park is a few miles from where he grew up in north Henderson. The kids reminded him of his childhood friends, with whom he attended Silverado High School and won the state baseball championship in 2000.

Nielsen walked on at UNLV, where he became a first-team All-American and one of the program’s all-time great power hitters on the way to being drafted in the 12th round by the Toronto Blue Jays. He advanced to Triple-A before being released, right before Toronto moved its affiliate to Las Vegas.

He returned to Southern Nevada to finish his degree at UNLV and started teaching high school physical education. He later coached at UNLV and also sold medical supplies. One day, he went on a ride-along with the Henderson Police Department and was instantly hooked.

He found a career, a passion.

“The police department has a similar structure of being an athlete — pride, character, wearing a uniform,” he said. “What drew me to it was seeing everyone work together for a common goal of helping build a community in need.”

The need has been intensified in recent months throughout the Las Vegas area with demonstrators taking to the streets to protest George Floyd’s death. One night became violent with Metro Police shooting and killing an armed gunman near downtown, and in a separate incident south on Las Vegas Boulevard, a Metro officer being severely injured after being shot in the neck.

Nielsen, who is also part of the Henderson’s SWAT team, was working the Strip that night when the mayhem broke loose. When Officer Shay Mikalonis was shot, Nielsen’s unit was summoned to help secure the scene. On the way, he said they were hit with fireworks and other projectiles unleashed by some of the demonstrators.

The feeling that night makes the highs and lows of a baseball game seem trivial.

“It’s giving chills right now talking about it,” Nielsen said. “These are unprecedented times. It was frantic. I never thought I would see anything like that.”

That’s why community policing is so important. If a young person can see the other, human side of an officer, then maybe the interaction during times of conflict will go more smoothly. Nielsen said he also has made it a point to wave to civilians while on duty, and he carries department stickers to give to young children.

“We are no different than anyone else in the community,” Nielsen said. “Yes, we have a uniform on. Yes, we have a job to do in enforcing the law. But we are a human just like you.”

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