Las Vegas NowI-Team: Metro Reacts to Study on Nevada's Anti-Gang Efforts

I-Team: Metro Reacts to Study on Nevada's Anti-Gang Efforts

Metro is responding Tuesday night to a national study which is critical of Nevada's anti-gang efforts. The report says Nevada -- and many other states -- pay too much attention to the enforcement side of the problem and not enough to prevention.

The report was put out by Washington, D.C.-based group called the Justice Policy Institute. The group says its purpose is to end society's reliance on incarceration -- and to promote what it calls "effective solutions" to social problems.

It says gang units nationwide are often formed as a result of political or public relations pressure -- and are not effective. But Metro says -- not so.

Metro says its gang unit is currently tracking 8,207 gang members in the Las Vegas valley. And the department says its intelligence gathering and enforcement efforts have resulted in a drop in gang-related crime.

So far this year, Metro reports 106 gang related shootings compared to 147 in the same time period last year. That's a drop of 28-percent, according to Metro statistics.

The Justice Policy Report argues that communities that rely more on schools, social services and community groups for education have more success in gang prevention. And Metro agrees -- that is an important part of the equation.

This year, the department implemented a new program called the Safe Village Initiative in West Las Vegas. It brings together a wide range of community members as gang officers target enforcement to the 'worst of the worst.'

"We're out in the trenches with the patrol officers, and all we're doing is instead of random patrols, now we have a direct focus for the most violent individuals in our valley that have the greatest possibility of committing another violent act on one of our citizens," said Lt. Bob Sebby of Metro's Gang Unit.

"Before it wasn't working but now it is working better by you going and making some kind of contact with parents or with the young man after this thing had happened. They'll say 'we got you boom, that's the end of it' but want to let them know that they still have some care for the community and them as well," said Dr. S.S. Rogers, a pastor.

The report also takes aim at the prosecution of gang-related crimes. It says there's no evidence that enhanced sentences and specialized prosecution units make a difference when it comes to successful prosecutions.

Metro says reports like this one are useful, but in the end, likens big city gang units are like homicide units. Murders and gang involvement will never end, so specialized units will always be needed.