Top law enforcers in Clark County retained

The county's top law enforcement officers have been re-elected to another term.

Voters chose to keep Sheriff Doug Gillespie and District Attorney David Roger in office during Tuesday's election.

In a landslide victory, Gillespie claimed 65 percent of the vote in the nonpartisan sheriff's race against challenger Laurie Bisch, a patrol officer who took in 35 percent of the vote.

"We'll continue staying focused on crime, and we'll have significant budget challenges that we'll deal with," Gillespie said. "Homeland security is a big part of what we do, and we've seen heightened activity worldwide. I'll challenge the organization to be that much better today than they were yesterday. It'll be a busy four years, I can guarantee you that."

However, the partisan DA's race was much closer with the incumbent Roger, a Republican, garnering 52 percent and Democratic challenger Don Chairez taking 48 percent .

"I'm happy the public has expressed their confidence in the district attorney's office," Roger said.

"We'll continue moving forward to make Las Vegas the safest place in the country by working closely with our law enforcement partners, identifying problem areas in the community and getting after them," he said.

Gillespie will be serving his second term, and Roger, his third.

Both Bisch and Chairez, a former judge, had hoped to capitalize on public discontent with the coroner's inquest process and a high number of officer-involved shootings, including two recent high-profile cases.

Erik Scott and Trevon Cole were shot and killed by officers in separate events earlier this year. Their deaths prompted a cry for change in how coroner's inquests are conducted, and a board of county officials was formed to examine the process.

Las Vegas resident Gary Knight, voting at Cimarron-Memorial High School, said the way the department handled the recent coroner's inquests determined how he voted.

"I voted for Bisch because of the way things have been going with the shootings," Knight, 43, said. "There's been a lot of cover-up in my opinion. The other race was a toss up for me, so I picked Chairez. A lot of scandalous things have been going on."

Steve Bowman, 48, said he voted for Gillespie.

"He's doing a hell of a job," Bowman said. "He's got a couple of rogue cops, but you always have bad apples. It's not like he's out there telling them to do that."

But Bowman added that he voted for Chairez because he was uncomfortable with Roger accepting campaign contributions from David Chesnoff, socialite Paris Hilton's high-profile lawyer. Chairez pointed to donations from Chesnoff to Roger in a television spot that claimed the incumbent gave "sweetheart deals" -- or preferential treatment -- in the courtroom in exchange for campaign money.

Contact Kristi Jourdan at kjourdan@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.