'Effective law enforcement work' leading to drop in homicides, Las Vegas sheriff says

Bryan Horwath, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Mar 27, 2025

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LAS VEGAS — Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill was clear Wednesday about one of his goals for Nevada’s largest law enforcement agency for 2025.

“My challenge to this organization is to get under 100 homicides,” McMahill said during a scheduled interview with Review-Journal reporters. “I know we can do it.”

In 2024, the Metropolitan Police Department investigated 109 cases it deemed to be murders, a number that is down 23% from the 2023 total of 141. Metro also investigated 27 homicides last year that were deemed to be self-defense or justified killings.

Through Sunday, Metro counted 19 murders so far this year, a year-to-date figure that was also down — about 32% — from the same time period in 2024.

If this year’s trend for homicides in Las Vegas continues, the final tally for 2025 will be close to McMahill’s stated goal.

“It’s about effective law enforcement work,” he said. “It’s also about taking care of my people.”

McMahill said a part of that effort is tied to the department’s recently opened wellness bureau, a center unveiled late last year to help with mental health issues that arise in policing.

The center, near Rancho and Alta drives, features five full-time therapists and a doctor. It offers group therapy sessions and includes meditation rooms for police employees and their families.

Metro employees and their family members can get three free therapy sessions per year through the center. McMahill said clinicians at the center are now taking more than 400 appointments per month.

“We’re changing the culture and changing how we think about those things,” McMahill said. “What police officers see and feel and hear and smell, day in and day out, that impacts their heart, mind, body and soul. There were years where we were asked to get mental health counseling for our officers because they needed it. We’re taking care of those things now.”

Including all jurisdictions in Clark County, records compiled by the Review-Journal show that 172 homicides took place in 2024.

In Las Vegas, the last time Metro counted fewer than 100 homicides was 2019, when 90 were tallied.

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