Metro celebrates 50 years

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department celebrated its golden anniversary Saturday, half a century after the union of the old Las Vegas Police Department with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office into a single legal jurisdiction.

“In 1973, we served a population of 319,400 residents in our jurisdiction with 1,000 LVMPD employees,” the department stated in a news release touting the milestone. “Those employees handled over 100,000 calls of service that first year.”

Now, 50 years later, “we serve a population of more than 1.6 million residents with 6,000 employees and we now average 1.4 millions calls for service a year,” the department stated.

In addition to providing public safety services to local residents in its area, the department also serves “an average of 40 million tourists that visit our valley annually,” it stated.

The department has posted a 13-minute video produced by retired police Officer Greg Rundell highlighting Metro’s history since the consolidation on July 1, 1973, officers who died while on duty, sheriffs who have led the department over the years and major events including the Route 91 Harvest music festival shooting.

Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on Twitter.