Department of Justice issues report praising Metro

The Metropolitan Police Department has made “notable and sustained efforts” to reduce its number of police shootings and increase its transparency and engagement with the community, a federal report released Wednesday concluded.

The 50-page report, conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services office, was almost entirely positive. It analyzed whether a series of reforms the office recommended to Metro between 2012 and 2014 had continued or tapered off. The conclusion? The reforms had continued and in many areas, improved.

The recommended reforms came in the wake of an investigation into police shootings by the Las Vegas Review-Journal in late 2011. Then-sheriff Doug Gillespie agreed to let DOJ analyze Metro, figure out why there had been a record number of police shootings and killings, and offer a list of ways the department could change.

The initial DOJ report released in 2012, which followed an eight-month investigation, concluded among its 75 findings and recommendations that Metro lacked any real form of officer accountability in police shootings, the department’s use-of-force policy was “cumbersome,” and that training in several areas, including de-escalation tactics, was severely lacking.

The final DOJ progress report, released in May 2014, lauded Metro for implementing nearly all of its recommendations, especially in regard to how the department changed its use-of-force training and review process of police shootings. But that report noted that Metro still needed to work on transparency and outreach to the community.

Since 2014 though, Metro has made “impressive progress toward increased transparency and increased information sharing around officer-involved shootings” and has “continued to make efforts to engage with the community in authentic ways,” the report released Wednesday noted.

The report also credited the strong leadership of both Gillespie and Sheriff Joe Lombardo as a “critical factor in making many of these positive changes possible.”

Tod Story, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, agreed with many of the report’s findings.

In terms of transparency, Story noted he’s “happy” Metro treats body camera footage as public record.

“They did that on their own,” Story said of Metro. “That wasn’t a requirement of the (DOJ recommendations). They decided to do that, and that’s a good show of the department committing to pursuing additional opportunities to inform the public.”

More than 1,600 Metro officers are currently equipped with body cameras, Metro confirmed Wednesday.

Story also agreed Metro has made great strides in community engagement. He said Metro’s multicultural advisory council is “very representative of the community” and that Metro continues to make significant efforts to diversify its police force.

On both Gillespie and Lombardo, Story added that “both have exhibited leadership in improving community and police relationships, and they deserve credit for that.”

“That doesn’t mean we are finished,” Story said, “but certainly these reforms couldn’t have happened without their leadership and involvement in the process.”

Review-Journal reporter Colton Lochhead contributed to this report. Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @rachelacrosby on Twitter.