END-OF-THE-YEAR SHAKE-UP NEAR THE TOP OF METRO POLICE
One of the most well-known officers in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is retiring. Undersheriff Kevin McMahill, who has been with the department for some 30 years, confirmed to State of Nevada his retirement at the end of this year.
McMahill has been one of the most familiar faces and voices of the police department in the last five years as undersheriff.
Long before the protests over the unequal treatment of Black Americans by police, both here and around the country, McMahill lead an effort in 2006 called “The Safe Village.” It was a form of community policing in one of Las Vegas’ most crime-ridden precincts just north of the urban core.
“We police minority communities differently than white communities,” McMahill told the Albuquerque Journal in 2014.
There are still issues of unequal treatment, evidenced by the George Floyd protests in Las Vegas over the summer. McMahill lead many of the police actions in response to the protests. He was alongside Officer Shay Mikolanis, who was assigned to the protests, when Mikolanis was shot and paralyzed. The shooter was not a protester and has been arrested.
McMahill joined State of Nevada to talk about 2020, cops in quarantine and police union complaints and a lot more.