Non-shooting deaths involving Las Vegas police often receive less official scrutiny than shootings

When a Las Vegas police officer shoots and kills someone, the death sparks a clear review process: from providing information to the public to evaluating whether policies should be changed and whether an officer should be charged for his or her role in the fatality.

But the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s non-shooting fatalities do not always receive the same degree of attention because the review process for investigating deaths was designed primarily to address those involving firearms.

That system was established after the Las Vegas Review-Journal published a five-part series in 2011 centered on the Las Vegas police department that revealed a pattern of shootings and a lack of officer accountability.

In early 2012, the Las Vegas police department began working with the Justice Department on an in-depth review of police practices to reduce officer-involved shootings, known as the Collaborative Reform Initiative. That resulted in dozens of recommended changes to Las Vegas’ police policies — most focused on the use of firearms and officer accountability — in addition to other reforms the department already had begun.

“We wanted to improve upon our training, and we wanted to eliminate and reduce the number of officer-involved shootings,” said James LaRochelle, then-deputy chief of the Las Vegas department’s investigative services division. He has since retired.

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