Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Metro officer rises through ranks to take over homicide unit

Steiber

Jackie Valley

Ray Steiber is Metro Police’s new homicide lieutenant, taking the reins after longtime homicide Lt. Lew Roberts retired in December. Steiber previously served as robbery lieutenant.

Watch on KSNV

Watch KSNV reporter Marie Mortera’s report about Metro Police’s new homicide lieutenant at 4 and 6 p.m. today on Channel 3.

It didn’t take long for Metro Police’s new homicide Lt. Ray Steiber to change offices. The former robbery lieutenant simply moved from one side of a wall to the other, unpacking in his notoriously tidy manner.

But Steiber’s move to his new job — he oversees 24 detectives and four sergeants investigating some of the city’s most gruesome crimes — began some 23 years ago when he joined the department as a patrol officer.

“Always, it was a personal goal of mine to be involved in the investigating and solving of Las Vegas homicides,” said Steiber, a graduate of Basic High School. “A lot of people think it’s the pinnacle of a career. For me, I agree.”

Steiber took over the job in December, after longtime homicide Lt. Lew Roberts retired.

His rise to the homicide command post comes after stints in a cross section of Metro investigative units, including vice, narcotics, gangs, criminal intelligence, crimes against youth and family, and, most recently, robbery.

Under Roberts’ leadership, homicides in Las Vegas fell roughly 25 percent last year, down to 86 compared to 116 in 2010. Homicide detectives made arrests in nearly 75 percent of last year’s cases.

“When the homicide section investigates a homicide, we throw all resources at that (crime) very quickly,” Steiber said. “Not only is there a victim who’s lost their life, but there’s a family associated with that.”

It’s a trend Steiber hopes to continue.

“We’re going to try,” he said. “I am only one person. It takes a multitude of people to put a bad guy in jail.”

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