Las Vegas Metropolitan Police (LVMPD) has not had a good relationship with the Jewish Community in Vegas. The previous Sheriff was often called anti-Semitic, and even went as far as trying to ban Jews from even being police officers. So much that Metro itself was sued for discrimination and lost $350,000 when they refused to allow an Orthodox Jew to be a detective.
Now their lack of a dedicated Hate Crime Unit that works with the Jewish Community is coming under fire after multiple hate crimes have been reported this year — and nothing much has been done about it.
Recently 12 Swastikas were found in a Jewish Neighborhood, only a few blocks away from the Southwest Chabad of Las Vegas. LVMPD has refused to investigate this seriously, saying it’s not a “hate crime” for whatever reason — even though it was specifically targeted after the killing in Pittsburg.
Now, a visibly Jewish woman in the same neighborhood has been targeted also with swastika on her door and a “Heil Hitler.”
LVMPD has refused to return my phone calls about this crime — which I believe will also be ignored after processing as just “kids being kids.” In fact, I spoke to two local anchors at told me the same thing: that Metro isn’t commenting on why they aren’t considering these “hate crimes.”
Why is LVMPD not taking these seriously? Vandalism is considered a “low level” crime in Nevada since it happens so often. Usually the police do nothing about it and doesn’t even show on their statistics for anything serious. If they have to consider all of these “hate crimes” it makes the current Sheriff look bad. However, without dedicated Hate Crime units and specialists that can investigate this, there isn’t much they could do otherwise. LVMPD has made it clear the Jewish community isn’t important.
