Las Vegas murder spike on radar of FBI director

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez

Thursday, May 12, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Las Vegas' surge in homicides this year has caught the attention of FBI Director James Comey, who aired his concerns publicly Wednesday about a spike in slayings in several American cities, Politico reported.

“From the Las Vegas Strip, you can’t tell that 60 people have been murdered in Las Vegas this year,” he said, according to Politico, emphasizing that the slayings are typically occurring in underprivileged areas removed from the tourist corridor.

Metro Police has so far this year investigated 64 homicides, stats show.

Comey’s remarks were prompted by a private briefing he received on Wednesday about rising crime rates in more than 40 cities during the first quarter of 2016.

He said the new statistics, which have not been made public, showed a significant jump in murder rates in many cities.

He spoke about cities like Chicago, which has seen 215 homicides so far this year, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Also according to Politico:

“I was very worried about it last fall and I am in many ways more worried,” Comey said. “The numbers are not only going up, they’re continuing to go up faster than they were going up last year.”

Comey called on the national media, which he said is not adequately covering the surges, to pay more attention to the increases.

He noted that the spikes in homicides were not being covered because the victims are mostly minorities who live in “particular” neighborhoods.

According to Metro stats, number breakdown in Metro's 64 homicide investigations:

Age and gender:

Men: 51

Teenagers: Three (male)

Women: 10

Race

Hispanic: 24

Black: 22

White: 15

Asian: Two

Native American: One

In Las Vegas, Metro Police has investigated 64 homicides so far this year, about a 56 percent increase compared with the 41 investigations homicide detectives conducted during the same period a year ago, police stats show.

As of late last month the year-over-year increase was over 100 percent, but Metro has not investigated a homicide since April 30.

Metro Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said police are making “substantial headway” combating violent crime and that there are tactics the department has implemented to bring numbers down, including a neighborhood enforcement team, he said Tuesday during a news conference unrelated to the increase in crime.

Comey has been perplexed by the increase of violent crime in some cities but not others, according to Politico.

“Why does Dallas see a dramatic spike and Houston doesn’t? ... It’s a complicated, hard issue, but the stakes couldn’t be higher. A whole lot of people are dying. I don’t want to drive around it,” Politico reported.

The FBI is working with local law enforcement to tackle the issue and improve relationships with minorities, Comey said in the report.

The New York Times News Service contributed to this story.