Metro seeks persons of interest in homicide

April's First Tuesday - Anger Management

The following is a news release from LVMPD:

Crimes like domestic violence, road rage, assault, and murder often share an underlying contributing factor: anger.

In an attempt to take a different approach to crime prevention, Metro is offering the public a unique educational experience at its April 6th First Tuesday program. As part of the evening’s program, audience members will hear a presentation on anger management from mediators from the Clark County Neighborhood Justice Center. The lecture will include tips on how to control negative emotions and prevent inappropriate and dangerous behavior.

Metro’s First Tuesday program is an open house style event that takes place at each area command on the first Tuesday of every month. The program begins at 7 p.m.
Each area command presents a lecture on a pre-selected topic, as well as information pertaining to the local neighborhood.

This is a great chance for the public to come out and meet the men and women who police their neighborhood.

For area command locations go to http://www.lvmpd.com/.

Metro asks for help solving tire shop killing

On January 6, 2010, two Hispanic males entered the Llanteras Del Norte Tire Shop, located at 4280 North Lamb Boulevard, and confronted the two employees working inside. During the confrontation one of the employees was shot. Following the shooting the suspects fled east bound on foot through the parking lot, possibly to a vehicle. The victim was transported by responding medical personnel to the U.M.C. Trauma center where he later died.

The two suspects are described as:
1) A Hispanic male, 25-35 years of age, 6'0'’ tall, with a thin build. He was last seen wearing a dark grey sweatshirt and blue jeans.
2) A Hispanic male, 25-35 years of age, 5'6'’ tall, with a heavy build. He was last seen wearing a light colored hooded jacket with two large blue triangles or a horizontal blue stripe through the mid section.
A possible suspect vehicle in this case has been identified as a dark colored GMC or Chevy Suburban style S.U.V. believed to be either a late 1990's or early 2000 model vehicle.

Anyone with any information concerning to this crime is urged to contact the L.V.M.P.D. Homicide section at 828-3521 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.

By the Numbers: Northwest Area Command

I started my concersation with LVMPD Northwest Area Command Capt. Csaba Maczala on Wednesday with a simple question: What's going on in the northwest? He said a conversation about crime statistics has to start with homicide.
As of 12/5/'09, there had been 17 homicides in the NWAC in 2009. That's a 41.67% increase. Homicides are down for Metro overall, by 7.44%. Any police manager will tell you that homicide is one of the most difficult crimes to predict and prevent. Preventing other types of crimes, especially violent crimes, will help reduce the number of homicides. Metro is aldo working on its approach to domestic violence, since many homicides have a link to prior domestic violence incidents.

Crime by the Numbers: Metro South East

Metro's South East Area command saw 20 of the 108 homicides so far this year in Metro's jurisdiction. The homicide rate there is up 54% from last year. That's the highest rate of increase in all of Metro. Overall, Metro's homicides are down a little more than nine percent.
Sophia Choi talked to Captain David O'Leary about homicides, and how he and his officers are working to reduce their frequency.

Preview: Crime by the Numbers

Today may be a holiday, but the Crime Tracker 3 team isn't taking the day off. Tonight at 4pm, we'll explore the high rate of homicides in Metro's South East Area Command. Then at 6pm, we'll find out how South East Area officers are planning now to take on a troubling crime trend in the coming year.

Quicker Help for people who may not even know they are at risk

Metro's Crimes Against Youth and Family Bureau is trying to become more proactive in all of its areas. One statistic Captain Vincent Cannito would like to see come down is the 44 homicides in 2008 identified as "intimate-partner related." Many are the result of Domestic Violence.

In an attempt to identify which victims of domestic violence are most likely to become future homicide victims, Cannito and his team looked at research out of Maryland, based on 25 years of crime data. They boiled it down to eleven questions.

1. Has your partner (or whoever the aggressor is) ever used a weapon against you or threatened you with a weapon?
2. Has he or she ever threatened to kill you or your children?
3. Do you think he/she might try to kill you?
4. Does he/she have a gun or can he/she get one easily?
5. Has he/she ever tried to strangle you?
6. Is he/she violently or constantly jealous or does he/she control most or all of your daily activities?
7. Have you left him/her or separated after living together or being married?
8. Is he/she unemployed?
9. Has he/she ever tried to kill himself/herself?
10. Do you have a child that he/she knows is not his/hers?
11. Does he/she follow or spy on you or leave threatening messages?

This list of questions will be given to the patrol officers, who are usually the first to respond to a domestic violence call to police. If the person answers yes to any three questions, the officer will offer to make a phone call and put the victim in direct contact with one of several service agencies in the area. This can all happen before a detective even starts investigating. Since the suspect often runs before police arrive, placing the phone call at this point can get the victim needed help before the suspect returns and potentially commits more violence.