Last night The Las Vegas Metro Police department launched Operation Persistent Pressure II, which they say is meant to crack down on the unprecedented levels of violence on the Las Vegas Strip. The operation is expected to last over the next 60 days, but even as it launched, we still saw major trouble on the Strip even with the increased police presence.
Just a fraction of the ?@LVMPDCCAC? cops that are about to hit the #LasVegasStrip RIGHT NOW as a part of Operation Persistent Pressure II. #BreakingNow #KeepingVegasSafe #InThisTogether #OnlyVegas pic.twitter.com/B5gih67ISF
— Captain Dori Koren (@dorikoren) May 8, 2021
Despite hundreds of officers saturating the Las Vegas Strip, the first weekend of Operation Persistent Pressure II didn’t seem to stop criminals and mentally ill homeless drug addicts from wreaking havoc throughout the Casinos Corridor. In fact, police are investigating several attacks including one in between Harrah’s and Casino Royale that left a man with life-threatening injuries.
Around 3 AM Friday, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Officer Larry Hadfield says they responded to a 911 call of someone being attacked outside of Casino Royale. Police found the victim with apparent life-threatening head trauma, Hadfield said. The specific area is a hot spot for homeless drug addicts; in the past couple of months, we have personally witnessed and filmed multiple overdoses and multiple tourists being attacked by homeless addicts.
Just down the street, police were investigating a murder at a Motel 6 on Tropicana Avenue near Koval. According to Metro, officers located a Black woman in a stairwell suffering from unknown injuries. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, and police say they are looking for a 6-foot tall Black man in his mid-20’s.
Homicide detectives are investigating after a woman was killed yesterday at a motel near Tropicana and Koval. Click here for more: https://t.co/hIWKnIPCOw#BREAKING #LasVegas #LVMPD pic.twitter.com/ouXSyhTQug
— LVMPD (@LVMPD) May 8, 2021
“I know 2020 has been one of the most unique years we ever had, but unfortunately 2021 has also proven to be quite unique with a lot of challenges,” explained Capt. Dori Koren with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Convention Center Area Command.
“Everyone knows, it’s a top priority to keep the Las Vegas Strip very safe, in all regards, not just a violent crime we’re dealing with but also in terms of traffic safety,” explained Koren.
Earlier in the week, Korean acknowledged something we have been reporting on for over a year, people coming to Las Vegas and attempting to use their vehicles to terrorize people and spread chaos throughout the city.
A few more people decided to test the boundaries on the #LasVegasStrip & do some burnouts. It didn’t work out too well for them or their nice rides. Three sets of handcuffs & three tow trucks coming right up! ??? @LVMPDCCAC #KeepingVegasSafe #Traffic #ThePoliceAreEverywhere pic.twitter.com/DwuSMg8162
— Captain Dori Koren (@dorikoren) May 3, 2021
“Once we started noticing there was a slight uptick in vehicles being a little reckless and doing burnouts or donuts, particularly on [Las Vegas Boulevard], we immediately increased our enforcement efforts,” said Koren.
“And that was the message I was trying to send on social media,” he explained. “We’re showing some of the bad activity [and we] are also showing our response to it.”
Here is one of our reports on the Vehicle Sideshows from earlier in the year.
This is why everyone was reporting gunfire on the strip last week…
— NetworkinVegas.com (@Networkinvegas) March 26, 2021
These morons were driving up and down the strip filming each other doing donuts… they hooked up an exhaust that simulated gunfire then drove around the strip trying to pretend they were shooting people… pic.twitter.com/vn0C5kg3cB
Operation Persistent Pressure II comes as many Las Vegas Metro Police officers have grown increasingly frustrated with Sheriff Joe Lombardo’s lack of leadership. For over a year now Lombardo has virtually ignored the Strip, allowed his officers to be used as pawns in Chinatown, and just last week attacked them in the national media calling them lazy and telling the media he was considering mandating the COVID vaccine for officers who refused to take it!
Our sources inside of Metro say that many local police officers feel that Lombardo has made it almost impossible for them to do their job. In fact, many feel that while they are glad to be able to finally do their jobs on the strip, a year of ignoring the problems is going to be a hard thing to undue. They say criminals have already got the word; Las Vegas is a place where they can get away with crimes.
Here is a little of what Las Vegas Metro says they encountered last night:
Check out this proactive police work by @LVMPDCCAC officers. Watch to the end…you won’t believe what illegal items they recovered from the suspect’s car. #LVMPD #CrimeFighter #AtWork pic.twitter.com/cW6QIYsjwQ
— Captain Dori Koren (@dorikoren) May 7, 2021
While most people were sleeping last night, our @LVMPDCCAC officers were catching bad guys! Yep, that’s right…they recovered this gold plated AK-47 rifle, a handgun, & some illegal drugs from a convicted felon out of Oregon. @LVMPD #PreventingViolence #OneLessGun #GoldAK #AK47 pic.twitter.com/rLM1trKI49
— Captain Dori Koren (@dorikoren) May 6, 2021
Imagine what it’s like to pat down a suspect & suddenly find this illegal gun concealed in their waistband! That’s what one of our @LVMPDCCAC officers had to do this past weekend. The job is dangerous but they do it b/c they care about our community. #SuspectArrested #OneLessGun pic.twitter.com/pk0dzJaneQ
— Captain Dori Koren (@dorikoren) May 7, 2021