Does Deputy Dan ring a bell?

With nicknames such as Officer Dummy, Deputy Dan, Officer Wood, and even Latex Larry, many Boulder City residents still remember seeing him parked and on duty.

For those who are not aware, at one time the Boulder City Police Department placed an older patrol car at the entry into town on the Las Vegas side along with a mannequin in the driver’s seat. It was a simple, yet effective way to slow traffic coming into and leaving Boulder City.

It’s still a bit unclear when the P.D. first placed the vehicle. Some say in the 1980s, while most agreed that it started in the 1990s and carried over into the next decade.

BCPD’s Lt. Vince Albowicz was able to provide some insight into his former fellow officer, starting with his official name.

“Officer Newman (New man) was widely used, although Lt. Dan was a name given to him after the P.D. had the mannequin’s legs removed,” he said. “This name was a reference to Gary Sinise’s character, Lt. Dan Taylor, in the movie “Forrest Gump.” I was told, prior to me starting with the P.D., he was a full-body mannequin.

“One night the mannequin was sitting in a patrol vehicle along the truck route when he slumped over into the passenger seat. A frantic motorist happened to see it and tried to help, not realizing it was not a real person.”

He was told the police department removed the legs to make sure people realized it was not a real person. He was also told the mannequin was manufactured by Boulder City’s Characters Unlimited, the maker of Zoltar and others.

Albowicz said he remembers it having yet a third nickname, appropriately enough, Officer Manny Quinn (mannequin).

Whether it was Officer Newman, Lt. Dan or Officer Manny Quinn, Albowicz became quite familiar with the public fan favorite.

“As a rookie officer I remember being tasked with putting it out at the beginning of my shift and picking it up at the end of my shift,” he said. “The vehicle was an actual working patrol car, albeit a model older than used at the time. Because it was noticeably different, some motorists would assume they could ignore a friendly reminder to slow down. On more than one occasion they were surprised when a real officer used the car to pull out after them to have a chat.”

He said the dummy cop was not something unique to BCPD. At the time, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the Henderson Police Department were using similar approaches to bring awareness to traffic safety by parking police vehicles in or near school zones in an effort to have drivers follow the rules of the road.

Last week, the Review put up a Facebook post about the patrol car asking people to share their memories, with nearly 100 responses. That’s where some of the nicknames came from, in addition to the following comments:

Cheryl VanHagen: Sadly, smartphones weren’t a thing yet for photos. But people would also put coffee cups and Dunkin’ Donut bags on the hood.

Wendy Malek: The locals would know it’s a dummy by the patrol car. Normally, it was an older one none of the cops wanted to drive.

Val Olsen: Cars coming into town would slam on their brakes when they saw him. I watched a man pull over, get out of his car and walk up to check it out. When discovering it was a mannequin, he flipped it off.

Ken Phillips: I always remember being able to tell the locals from tourists by brake lights.

Candy Felsenfeld: I remember the first time I saw it, scared me to death. I thought I was busted for sure.

Rick Sixberry: I remember it. You could always tell who wasn’t a local, they were the ones hitting the brakes.

Peggy Ballard Johnson: I was driving into town and an elderly man had parked in the median with the patrol car and got out with a map opened walking to the the patrol car. I wasn’t able to see his reaction when he got to the window but I die laughing to this day with what I think his reaction was.

Officer Newman found himself the victim of a crime in 1999. According to an article in the Las Vegas Sun, “On June 11, three men out for a night of drinking broke the window to the patrol car and took Lt. Dan. As they were pulling Lt. Dan from the car, his head fell off. The men then put Lt. Dan into the back of their truck under a spare tire.”

But when they attempted to drive away, the wheels of their vehicle got stuck in the dirt. That’s when two police officers arrived, and noticed Lt. Dan in the truck.

The article added that three males, ages 18-21, all of North Las Vegas, were arrested and charged with burglary, damage to a police vehicle and grand theft for taking Lt. Dan.

But after a little mending, he was back on the job later that week.

So, would the BCPD even consider bringing Officer Newman out of retirement?

“Possibly, we are always looking for ways to make the community safer,” Albowicz said. “There have been a record number of traffic deaths in Southern Nevada over the recent years and we would like nothing more than people to arrive safely to their destination.”