By Canadian Press

Sheriff: Almost all upgrades from Vegas shooting implemented

Dec 31, 2019 | 12:25 AM

Las Vegas police have implemented almost all their self-identified upgrades stemming from a review of officers’ responses to the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history more than two years ago, the elected head of the department said Monday.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said in a statement the agency has enacted 84 of 93 recommendations outlined in a departmental self-critique he made public last July.

On the eve of a fireworks extravaganza expected to draw more than 300,000 people to Las Vegas Strip, Lombardo said the “after-action review” has shaped preparation and training for future mass casualty incidents in a region with 2.2 million residents that draws more than 40 million visitors a year.

The nine items that weren’t completed weren’t identified. Officer Alejandra Zambrano, a department spokeswoman, said she could not immediately say what they are.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has “addressed lifesaving measures to secure open-air venues that face high-rise structures,” the statement said, and “now keeps trauma kits on-hand at large venues” to treat injured people.

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The department “has also filled gaps in training that were found as part of the 18-month internal review and addressed issues with radio communication, among other changes,” the statement said.

Las Vegas police today total more than 3,100 sworn officers, up from about 2,700 at the time of the October 2017 massacre that killed 58 people and injured hundreds at an open-air music festival on the Las Vegas Strip.

A gunman fired more than 1,000 rounds with assault-style rifles out the windows of the Mandalay Bay resort before killing himself. Police found him dead more than an hour later, after officers blasted through the doors of his 32nd-floor suite.

Police and the FBI said the gunman planned meticulously and acted alone, but said they never identified a “single or clear motivating factor” for the shooting. Federal investigators said the gunman may have sought notoriety.

The statement on Monday points to unspecified improvements in emergency equipment, communications and training. It said some department bureaus were still working out agreements to partner with neighbouring agencies.

The departmental critique had called for planning involving police, fire, hospital and coroner officials.

Ken Ritter, The Associated Press