FBI’s Martinez takes over Los Angeles Division

Perhaps only running the Las Vegas office of the FBI the past three years could have prepared Steve Martinez for his new duty as Assistant Director in Charge of the enormous Los Angeles Division.

More than lights and gambling make Las Vegas unique. It’s an international city, a crossroads community, and is considered one of
the targets of the international human trafficking network. But Martinez never expected the FBI would be investigating wide-scale
mortgage fraud.

In an interview recently aired on “KNPR’s State of Nevada,” Martinez talked about crime in the valley and working with various players in the casino and law enforcement communities.

“It’s a challenge working with the private sector in any setting,” he said. “With these properties there’s a lot of competition, so vulnerabilities are things that sometimes are difficult to share or make public. That’s one of the things we have to work through with
discretion, but … I think the information sharing within the corporate culture has gotten much, much better. … It’s about as good as you can expect it in this community.”

I think you’re supposed to take that as a compliment, Las Vegas. As if addressing the quirks, kinks, and endless intrigues of Las
Vegas weren’t challenge enough, the FBI’s top priorities shifted dramatically following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack. That new
stress has forced law enforcement agencies that didn’t always see eye to eye to work together on a broad range of investigations.

“There are task forces, really, that cover almost all our responsibilities. Whether it be fugitives or other violent crime matters, white-collar crime matters, we’re task-forcing in almost every instance. That gives us the leverage to still have an impact.

We’re able to take cases federally when that makes sense, and they’ll be prosecuted in state court when that makes sense.”

Some very gray Metro officers and their FBI counterparts would say such a working relationship is long overdue.

For more of my interview with Martinez, check out today’s Review-Journal column. For the entire interview, click on knpr.org and go to the November 18 archive under “Leaving Las Vegas.”