A Metro Police vehicle responds after a stabbing along the Las Vegas Strip left two people dead and six wounded on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, authorities said. In a report released by Metro on Thursday, the department averaged 16 officer-involved shootings, eight of those resulting in a fatality, over a five-year period.
Friday, June 9, 2023 | 2 a.m.
When compared to the last five-year average, Metro Police had fewer officer involved shootings overall in 2022 but maintained the average of eight fatal outcomes, according to a report released by the department Thursday.
The department averaged 16 officer-involved shooting incidents each year between 2018 and 2022. There were 14 incidents investigated last year.
Thirteen of those 14 subjects were armed with a weapon or item deemed dangerous. Ten were armed with a firearm.
Eight of the shootings had fatal outcomes. Eight is also the department’s five-year average for fatal outcomes.
Overall, the department responded to 1,480,183 calls for service and officer-generated calls, the report says.
The subjects in 2022 officer-involved shootings were mostly Hispanic or White, according to the data. The report says 43% of subjects were white, 43% were Hispanic, 14% were Black. The five-year average for each race is 43% white, 25% Black and 23% Hispanic.
All of the subjects involved in the shootings were male in 2022. In 2018, 4% of subjects were females, but in every other year, all subjects were male.
South Central and Downtown Command had the most officer involved shootings in 2022 with three each, Southeast followed with 2 incidents, according to the report. Enterprise, Northeast, Northwest, Spring Valley, Summerlin and an outside jurisdiction each had one incident.
Between 2018 and 2022, Downtown Command area witnessed the most officer involved shootings with 13 overall.
Friday between 8 p.m. and midnight is the most likely time for an officer involved shooting by Metro Police, per the five-year data.
De-escalation protocol was started in 21% of officer involved shootings in 2021. The protocol requires a minimum of three officers and a supervisor to respond to a call where there is credible information the subject is armed and acting in a threatening manner, the report says.
The five-year average for using de-escalation protocols was 32%.
About 15% of officers involved in shootings in the past five years, had a previous shooting during their career. During 2022, 14% of officers had a previous shooting incident.
Officers involved in 2022 shooting incidents were predominantly white males between the ages of 21 and 29 years old, according to the data. The five-year average shows officers on average were white males between the ages of 30 and 39 years old.
Officers with the department for one to five years were most likely to be involved in incidents according to the five-year data. During 2022, 59% of officers involved in an incident had been with the department between one and five years.
During 2022, there were 905 nondeadly use of force incidents. This includes 151 incidents using an electronic control device, 642 using an empty hands tactic, 51 using projectile weapons and 25 using K-9 dog bites.
