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Here we go again, Sheriff. You are spouting off about safety on the Strip and how “We will not tolerate this violence.” I could get a transcript of your latest ‘press conference’ and save it so I could press REPLAY to cover all past and current crimes that you have ignored and will apparently continue to ignore. The website Time.com even used the word “dulled” today when referring to your conflicting information about crime and safety as you attempt to deceive and ‘bluff’ the public about crime on the Strip.
It might not be a good idea to keep ‘bluffing’ in a gambling town like Las Vegas because it is bound to catch up with you!
I think you actually might be better off explaining what you are going to do to fight crime instead of you and your underlings like Captain Fasulo and your PIO’s calling everything an ‘anomaly’ or an ‘isolated’ incident. If anyone examined your statistics, I think we would be hearing the word FRAUD in media reports. I also think you are lucky that the media does not ask for unit status reports to show where the cops were when this latest crime took place. Do you know where your officers are and what they are or are not doing at 0420 hours? How many were at lunch or handling Vice calls or other misdemeanors?
What is different about the media attention given to this triple-fatal incident? This time the story made national and international news. I saw it on all of the main national news channels. It was also on all of the major websites. You can run (from the truth) Duh-G, but you cannot hide when the subject includes enough ‘carnage’ to get outside attention. I can think of close to a dozen murders that have occurred on OUR precious Strip. Yes–it belongs to US (current and former police officers who tried their best)!
Beyond the murders, I know of numerous additional shootings and stabbings and beat-downs and brain bleeds that have not been reported. I also know that there are too many that have not been properly investigated or solved. A few of those crimes will be listed below. It became very frustrating to see the victims every week and to know how dysfunctional the LVMPD response was. If it was not an ‘Action Crime’ it didn’t really matter…not even if a $100,000 watch was stolen by a street whore only to be delivered to her pimp… maybe one of those dead or going to prison from last week’s incident.
I believe you were the sheriff when I wrote the Safe Strip report in August of 2008. Did you know that your ‘token’ captains didn’t like the fact that my report (following the same distribution list as previous reports) caused them to have to answer some questions? Yes, apparently Assistant Sheriff Moody and Deputy Chief Joseph asked a few questions about crime and disorder on the Strip. I then was admonished about ‘chain of command’ issues and got a negative item (Contact Report) placed in my personnel file because I ‘pissed off a few captains,” according to what my lieutenant told me. You might want to read that report again before a plaintiff’s attorney gets a copy of it. I addressed the crime on the pedestrian overpasses (BEFORE several murders occurred). I addressed thugs and pimps on the Strip and the number of guns recovered by regular officers and the Special Events officers who had to be hired to try to control the nightclubs. I wrote about guns and drug dealing and pimps bothering tourists. I even wrote about the lack of cameras and cooperation with security. In August, my Safe Strip report will be 5 years old. In November, it will have been two years since you FIRED ME! Let’s count the murders and shootings and other violence on the Strip (not just those that have made the news and given Las Vegas a black eye). I guess my Safe Strip report was the beginning of the end of my career? Or was it the interview that I did on National Public Radio about not being ‘at war’ as your training academy was teaching new officers.
I’d have to check the dates but this ‘indoctrination’ just might be what officers were taught BEFORE (Trayvon Cole, Stanley Gibson, Eric Scott…) and BEFORE you started Sgt. Kelly McMahill’s promotional tour where she discusses the ‘sanctity of human life.’ I sure wish she learned about the INTERGRITY of internal investigations before you rewarded her with a nice new position in the post-Norm Jahn era.
You have created special teams to ‘entertain’ (‘Vegas Strip’ and ‘COPS’) and bring $$ to one of your campaign donors. You send people to Mumbai and implement training for ‘war mentality’ to combat terrorism. A huge amount of money, time, and effort has been put into the MACTAC training – even after your ‘leading lieutenant’ left the LVMPD due to a pain-killer problem. I’m afraid that two pimps did just about as much damage as a terrorist attack could do. The TV shows also do damage to the reputation of Las Vegas. Your ‘star’ Sgt. TJ is going to have a career in the movies when he retires (unless you actually start letting him ‘profit’ in his current assignment like Vice detective Chris Baughman). I’ve heard that other police departments use some of the LVMPD videos to show blatant violations of the law and the U.S. Constitution–what not to do!
You have overseen the near dismantling of entire squads of good cops that I worked with that liked to fight crime. I know of Jung and Joel and Dave and Thurman and others who lost their jobs or chose to leave the LVMPD out of frustration with your ‘regime.’ Some had ‘truthfulness’ problems (or ‘so say’ your investigators). One had a ‘medical’ problem and you ‘sustained’ him for minor incident at his doctor’s office. We all know of other cases of domestic violence that you have ignored…you ‘rehab’ repeat drunk driving cops and they keep their jobs. You don’t object to ‘medical’ or ‘disability’ retirements that are apparently given out like candy to Trick-or-Treaters. Yes, the PMSA told me they could do a ‘fill-in-the-blank’ form to get me a medical retirement and avoid a ‘truthfulness’ termination. I rejected this. Your attorney (Tricky Nicky Crosby) then wrote up a ‘gag’ order to keep me silent. I was offered a ‘retirement’ and removal of the ‘truthfulness’ allegation if I would shut up. Sheriff Duh-G, it ain’t gonna happen. As my daughter wrote on a note during my arbitration hearing (the one where your department forced Lt. Hans Walters to be untruthful) –“At the end of the day, you have to live with yourself… and that’s what dad is doing.”
So please, Sheriff — stop talking about how safe the Strip is. Just tell us what happened to some of the crimes listed below and who is accountable for ineffective policing or lack of prosecution.
—Two locals were stabbed at the Hard Rock parking garage and both of their injuries could have been fatal. The two prostitutes who committed the crime were never identified even though video existed. This case did not make the ‘news.’
—Two citizens were stabbed in the underground parking lot of the Fashion Show Mall and a suspect fled in a Humvee. This case received minimal publicity or investigative effort. It is really frustrating when cops who work the area are not even aware of these types of serious crimes.
—Jesse Brown is in prison after the persistence of my squad and Det. Andre Carter. He was involved in the shooting of a soccer coach from Arizona at the Margaritaville/Caesars crosswalk. Unfortunately, other suspects in the crime were not charged even though ‘street cops’ obtained video and provided tentative identifications. Why do detectives have to ‘beg’ to go out of state to get identifications for ‘high-profile’ crimes like this one? There were actually several on the Strip (O’Sheas #1, O’Sheas #2, Caesars Palace). Any search of Google for “Las Vegas Strip Shootings” or “Strip Stabbings or Murders” will refresh everyone’s memory.
I was present for a shooting after the Nelly concert at the Aladdin. I was present and was in the line of fire for a ‘gunbattle’ between gangs in front of the old Boardwalk Hotel/Holiday Inn. Something like 30 rounds were fired. A security officer at Walgreen’s was struck in the head and another victim was hit nearby. We chased suspects and at least four were detained after ‘tourists’ saw them hiding guns on the rooftop of the parking garage. Who ever went to prison on this crime after your ‘special detective units’ argued over ‘turf’ and screwed up the investigation?
I was there to watch the smut peddler ‘bleed-out’ on the sidewalk in front of the Planet Hollywood.
I was called about the prostitute who was stabbed in the neck inside of Bally’s after her pimp and his organized crime group (Milwaukee Group) were allowed to operate for years and steal hundreds of thousands of dollars. Crazy – but some of them received Task Force treatment by authorities in Louisiana a year ago.
I will never forget the dozens and dozens of ‘beat-downs’ by pimps and thugs. Then there were the ‘brain-bleeds’ that never made the news. I’ve provided video of outrageous disorder and violence (even a woman from North Las Vegas clobbering a half-dozen citizens to ‘celebrate’ her 21st birthday as she walked down the Strip). I’ve seen teeth ‘stomped’ out by thugs for no apparent reason. I know of sexual assaults of impaired victims virtually ignored because, “It’s Vegas, Baby.”
Do you think cops get special treatment? I know of an off-duty officer from back east and his girlfriend who were in town during the Electric Daisy Festival a few years ago. They were both beaten badly at a Strip hotel. Security basically ‘solved’ the crime from researching surveillance video. This information was provided to your detectives. Can you give us that status on this case, Sheriff? I understand that the female’s face was collapsed by the three males involved in the attack as they were simply trying to open the door to their hotel room.
So far I’ve referred to violent acts…the thefts and fraud and activity of all of the pimps and prostitutes occurs daily (not ‘isolated’ in any way, shape, or form). You spend time on human trafficking lectures and legislation, but nobody is arresting the pimp E.McC. who proudly claims to have fathered 22 children. Some nightclubs were turning into ‘command posts’ for pimps and their operations. We used to see Ocean Fleming (O-Dog) in the Mirage a half-decade before he made the news and went to prison this year. And where is “Vice” when we have FELONY activity in progress??? They are doing ‘misdemeanor’ enforcement on the victims of prostitution for crimes that probably result in less punishment than wife-beating captains who are in charge of the Strip receive. Isn’t this ironic?
Some of us really did care about the violence. I CARED; but do you care, Sheriff Gillespie? What are you going to do about these unsolved crimes and lack of effort and accountability? What are you going to tell the national media the next time?
