The U.S. Justice Department investigated when Miami police shot and killed eight people in 16 months and when Portland, Or., police shot and killed five people over 18 months, but there is no federal investigation of the 15 people shot dead by Las Vegas police in 18 months, says the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
After a Review-Journal investigation found that police shootings have risen while authorities are reluctant to hold cops accountable, local civil rights groups are taking a wait-and-see approach. National experts, after reading the newspaper’s series, said outside intervention would be healthy for the Las Vegas police, and that federal authorities should open an investigation. “I think that would be a good thing,” said Samuel Walker, a retired University of Nebraska professor and expert on police accountability. “I think the city officials and the sheriff need to wake up to that.”