Metro rolls out ‘See Something, Say Something’ billboards

By Jackie Valley

Monday, Dec. 20, 2010 | 4:41 p.m.

It could be a car parked in a suspicious spot, a person taking unusual photos of a building's infrastructure or even snippets of an overheard conversation that raise concern.

With the holidays fast approaching — and scores of expected tourists flooding Las Vegas for events — Metro Police want the public's help reporting suspicious activity.

With that sentiment in mind, police announced today the presence of new ads as part of the "See Something Say Something" national campaign on eight or nine digital billboards across the Las Vegas Valley.

As the name suggests, the campaign's goal is to garner the public's help reporting suspicious activity to help thwart terrorist activities or other crimes.

"Over the last couple years, we often see in the news and in the headlines the different terrorist plots taken down and the suspicious activity that led to some sort of arrest or some sort of investigation taking place," said Detective Jason Leavitt of Metro's homeland security bureau. "I think as members of this community in Las Vegas, we need to keep our eyes open."

Lamar Advertising donated the billboard space, visible in several high-traffic places such as near the Interstate 215 and Interstate 15 interchange, officials said.

The red digital advertisement says "See Something Say Something" in big, block letters with a picture of an eye in the center and the 24-hour hotline printed underneath alongside a label for the Southern Nevada Counter Terrorism Center. The hotline number to report suspicious activity is (702) 828-8386.

Leavitt said the billboards are the first of several planned community awareness campaigns.

Officials have been promoting the national campaign for the past few months in Las Vegas, so far generating two to three calls per day to the hotline, he said. The hotline itself has been in operation for several years.

Leavitt said about 75 to 80 percent of the suspicious activity cases being investigated by Metro's homeland security bureau come directly from the public through tips.

"The police department can only do so much," he said, "and we're asking the public's assistance to help us in anything they might see."