UNDERSHERIFF MCMAHILL ON THE CHALLENGES FACING LAS VEGAS METRO POLICE
Las Vegas police have had their hands full. Las Vegas Metro Police gets about 10,000 calls per day. Now, its caseload could get even bigger thanks to a new ordinance passed by the Las Vegas City Council.
The council recently passed an ordinance that allows homeless people to be fined or even arrested if they refuse to go to an open shelter bed. Under the ordinance, Metro Police officers would talk to homeless people about leaving the street for a shelter and then potentially arrest them if they refuse.
Undersheriff Kevin McMahill told KNPR’s State of Nevada, in a wide-ranging interview Thursday morning, that how the ordinance will wprk is still being figured out.
“We don’t know exactly how all of this is going to work yet. There’s a lot of details to be worked out,” he said.
One of the most confusing aspects of the new ordinance is that Metro has jurisdiction over both Clark County and the city of Las Vegas, but the two governments have different laws covering homeless encampments.