Clark County Sheriff to announce re-election bid

Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo will run for re-election next year.

“I want to continue addressing the violent crime issue,” he told the Review-Journal on Tuesday.

In addition to violent crime, he said he wants to increase Metropolitan Police Department patrol officers’ presence throughout the valley, start a juvenile diversion program and develop best practices for dealing with people who are homeless or mentally ill.

He also wants to build a new patrol substation in the west valley, which could take another term to accomplish.

Lombardo was elected to the county’s top cop spot in 2014 after overcoming a crowded primary, then ran a tough campaign to win the general election against retired Capt. Larry Burns, who was considered the favorite among rank-and-file officers and had the endorsement of the officers’ union.

But Lombardo had the support of former sheriffs Doug Gillespie and Bill Young, as well as the resort industry. He spent nearly $2 million on his 2014 campaign, and he won on election day with 51 percent of the vote.

He’s been a Las Vegas police officer for about 30 years and previously ran Metro’s homeland security, search-and-rescue and patrol divisions.

He said he considered a decentralization policy that expanded investigative services at the patrol level one of his greatest successes. As a result the solve rate for property crimes such as burglaries went from just 3 percent per year to about 12 percent, he said.

He also pointed to the department’s use of force policies and transparency as a success that has continued under his watch.

Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Follow @WesJuhl on Twitter.