LVMPD vs. Transparency: The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Effort to Hide What Really Happened in Vegas
On May 1st, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced their court defeat, as well as the forthcoming release of the Las Vegas Shooting evidence. During this press conference Sheriff Joe Lombardo also announced his latest endeavor to withhold information about this tragic shooting from the American public. There have been many attempts by Lombardo to block this evidence release and though he can’t hold onto the evidence any longer, the “gamesmanship,” as Judge Stefany Miley called it, continues. The latest barrier placed between the public and a full account of what transpired, is Lombardo’s announcement that he will not grant interviews with his officers.
Since shortly after the Las Vegas Shooting, Sheriff Joe Lombardo, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) & Clark County have actively worked to deprive the public of their legal right to access government records.
The first battle consisted of Joe Lombardo and LVMPD blocking the release of search warrants and affidavits, despite the declaration by Sheriff Lombardo early on that the shooter acted alone.
Only during a hearing that took place on January 16th, 2018 where LVMPD’s hand was forced and they were on the verge of being required to release the warrants, did an LVMPD attorney reveal that there was in fact an additional suspect being investigated.
This justification for withholding public records was tossed aside by District Court Judge Elissa Cadish, as Nevada Public Records laws state that government entities may not refuse access to public records if their claims of confidentiality can be addressed by simple redaction. Those search warrants were released on January 30th.
The next attack on the public’s right to examine government records occurred when the Clark County coroner’s office had to be brought to court and forced to release the 58 shooting victims autopsy reports. On January 30th, 2018 Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg released the autopsy reports to approximately 100 media outlets.
However, Clark County continued to deny access to members of the public that requested them. The reason behind the Coroner’s office breaking the law and disobeying judge’s orders was a civil suit brought by one of the victim’s spouses.
A judge ordered that just that one autopsy report not be released and ordered media outlets to destroy or return that specific report. This order was later overturned by Nevada Supreme court on February 27th, 2018. In the meantime, members of the public requested the other 57 autopsy reports that were not covered by the district court judge’s order, only to once again have their requests denied. The coroner’s office eventually did fulfill members of the public’s requests starting March 1st, 2018.
Sheriff Lombardo started displaying his secretive behavior early on when he stopped giving regular press briefings about the shooting around October 13th, 2017. As we know, very little information about this tragedy has been shared with the public over the last seven and a half months since the shooting.
During that time, Joe Lombardo used taxpayer dollars on a legal battle in an effort to delay and/or completely halt the release of this important information. He and LVMPD attorneys have employed an alarming amount of stall tactics throughout the court process. These stall tactics were so alarming that they even drew concern from District Court Judge Stefany Miley in an April 10th hearing.
On April 27th, 2018 five Nevada Supreme Court justices denied the LVMPD attorney’s request for a stay. As a result, LVMPD was subject to what was essentially a self-imposed ultimatum; start releasing documents as originally ordered on February 7th or else find themselves in contempt of court and face sanctions.
With all legal maneuvers exhausted, Joe Lombardo held a press conference on Tuesday May 1st, 2018 announcing that on Wednesday May 2nd, 2018; seven months after the Las Vegas shooting he would begin releasing evidence. Lombardo claimed that he and the LVMPD were never intentionally resistant towards the media’s requests for evidence. Lombardo again brought up the money and time that would be consumed by preparing evidence for release, which prompts questions such as; how much did the six month legal battle cost? Why was such a fervent effort put forth to keep this public information from being released?
If they had followed Nevada public records laws and started preparing and releasing evidence from the beginning, would there still be a need to reassign detectives, taking them away from their primary duties?
Joe Lombardo’s behavior has called into question LVMPD’s claim that one of their “most important goals” is transparency of their policies, practices and training.
Then came the most seemingly non-transparent part of this press conference, Joe Lombardo declared that he would not be granting interviews with his officers. In keeping with his word, media outlets NBC, FOX 5 Las Vegas and Associated Press have reported that they are unable to get a response from LVMPD when they reach out for comment or clarification on recently released evidence. Once again, the public has been left to fend for themselves in finding answers about this terrible massacre. For every bit of progress towards lining up with the public’s right to know, Sheriff Joe Lombardo seems opposed to the public’s goal of full transparency and moves that goal just out of reach again.
