The extent of Joe Lombardo’s failed leadership as sheriff is now on full display. According to new reporting, there was a 22% increase over the past five years in use-of-force incidents under Joe Lombardo after he helped write the use-of-force guidelines in 2013. It’s no wonder settlements have shot up by millions of dollars since he jumped on the campaign trail, making taxpayers cover the bill for his dereliction.

Read more below about Lombardo’s failed record below.

American Independent: GOP candidate Joe Lombardo oversaw 22% increase in Las Vegas police use-of-force incidents

Emily Singer

November 1, 2022

• A report issued by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in 2021 shows that the use of nondeadly force by its officers surged by 22% over the previous five years of Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo’s leadership.

• Even while the number of reported use-of-force incidents has climbed, data from the Nevada Department of Public Safety shows that violent crime has been declining in the state over the past four years. And despite the increase in use-of-force incidents, which the department’s own report shows has disproportionately affected Black people, Lombardo considered the results of the report an endorsement of the conduct of the police department he oversees.

• Lombardo was involved in crafting the LVMPD use-of-force guidelines in 2013, when he served as assistant sheriff. The new guidelines were developed after a review by the department and the U.S. Department of Justice found that LVMPD officers had killed 47% of people they shot.

• In an opinion column published in the Las Vegas Sun in 2016, Lombardo called the LVMPD a “a model agency on use-of-force practices. Our success is the result of learning from mistakes, changing our business practices and involving our community in the process.”

• According to the report, Black people were the subjects of 43% of nondeadly use-of-force incidents, even though recent census data shows only 12% of the population of Las Vegas is Black. At the same time, use of force against white people, who make up 58.5% of the population, has steadily declined over the past five years, from 37% in 2017 to 29% in 2021.

Read the full story here.

###