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What threats currently face Las Vegas, and what are leaders preparing for, in terms of future challenges? We discuss this issue with George Togliatti, Director of the Nevada Department of Public Safety, Carolyn Levering, the Emergency Manager for the City of Las Vegas, and Captain Dori Koren of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD).
Leading Las Vegas is a podcast produced by the Emergency and Crisis Management Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Each season, students in a Leadership, Innovation and Adaptability class interview prominent leaders, who discuss their leadership approaches, and how they prepare for, respond to, and recover from shocks and stresses faced by the community.
Las Vegas is known for being the entertainment capital of the world. However, it is also a complex environment, with a highly diverse community living in densely populated urban and suburban areas. It is situated near rugged and desolate land, with an arid climate and extreme temperatures in summer months. This unique nature of the city and its location create dynamic challenges for leaders.
Each season, the Leading Las Vegas podcast will focus on specific issues relevant to emergencies and crises, as well as community resilience. It’s a must-listen for emergency managers, leaders, community members, and students interested in the field of emergency crisis management.
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Season 1 of Leading Las Vegas focuses on Tourist Safety. Tourism is an integral part of Las Vegas, with over 42 million people visiting the city every year. Large-scale events from shows at hotel properties, to music festivals, to high-profile sporting events, occur on a nightly basis, along with conventions that can draw well over 100,000 attendees. Different agencies work together in the community to plan for these events, and respond when safety threats occur.
In this season, we discuss issues of event planning, current and future threats, as well as community resilience. Las Vegas was also the site of the October 1, 2017 Route 91 Music Festival shooting, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The season contains an episode focused on the shooting, and conversations with the leaders involved with the security planning and response to the attack, and an interview with Las Vegas mayor, Carolyn Goodman, who discusses the city’s resilience.
0:00:00
Welcome to the third podcast in this public safety series entitled Current and Future Threats. In this podcast, we will talk about how emergency managers and the public can lead in light of current and future threats. The three experts we will talk with today are Carolyn Levering, George Tagliati, and Captain Dory Koren. Carolyn Lovering is the Emergency Management Administrator for the City of Las Vegas Office of Emergency Management. George Tagliati is currently serving his second tenure as the Director of the Nevada Department of Public Safety. Captain Dory Koren is currently in charge of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Convention Center Area Command, which includes the Las Vegas Strip
0:00:47
and the New Allegiant Stadium.
0:01:01
We begin with Carolyn Levering discussing her experience in the profession of emergency management and how it looks much different today than it did in the late 90s. Previously, FEMA and emergency management in general was known for its response to hurricanes and tornadoes. But after a series of events like the Oklahoma City bombing and 9-11, the field of emergency management was forced to evolve, adapt, and develop new trainings and understandings. Much of that change has happened since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 and FEMA being incorporated into that department along with many others. The effects of that change were felt in the response to Hurricane Katrina, the cutting of some of FEMA's preparedness components, and the lack of resources. Levering believes we are beginning to find the right balance but new things keep coming at us. As we struggle to get past the last emergency, we have to prepare for the unknowns of the future.
0:01:59
We're prepared for stopping somebody coming through the airport and hijacking airplanes. Well, that's so 2001. What have you done for me lately? Now we're looking at fire as a weapon. Look at the our West Coast is on fire. It has been on fire over and over again for years now. And not all of those fires are naturally occurring. And not all the challenges with those fires are necessarily because of human caused issues. necessarily because of human caused issues, other than we do have some arsonists out there creating and so what if somebody with more backing behind them and more malice in their heart were trying to do these things, how much worse could it be?
0:02:48
So we need to continue to look ahead and fight the fight that's ahead of us, instead of continuing Looking ahead, we can see many threats that face the city of Las Vegas. We begin by discussing our reliance on technology with both Carolyn and George and the ongoing cyber threat and how they view it.
0:03:02
A lot of people don't know, they wouldn't have reason to know that the city of Las Vegas, our government systems were suffering a cyber attack at the end of January. And so we actually had shut down a lot of our remote access capabilities that were in place for the convenience of city employees because we found that we had an intruder in our system that was, they hadn't done anything yet, but they were posing a threat. So, and of course we've seen other cities in the country have had their systems taken hostage and have actually in some cases paid ransom to get their systems back. And we've been very cognizant of that and very careful to prevent and avoid that from happening to us. closed off all those remote capabilities, which was fine for short term, but COVID turned out to be just around the corner. And of course, then we're looking at how do we get people out of city buildings working from home remotely? Oh, yeah, we turned off all of our got center spotlight, right? Our office has always been responsible for working with all the departments on their continuity of operations plans. And we kept saying, look, you may not be able to rely on remote and how many people in your department really need access to remote. And so a lot of things that we've already been putting into place suddenly got a spotlight. And our information technologies team rose to the occasion. They have worked very, very hard to make sure that we were able to distance people safely, continue to offer city services, protect against that cyber threat that was persistent. Once they got blocked, they kept trying to get in. And, and of course we had no way of knowing what other threats might be coming our way. So it was definitely an interesting period of time for IT and for cyber on the heels of this attack with COVID impending and everything else. It's been a very interesting last few months.
0:05:29
According to a local news station, nearly 50 million people visited Las Vegas local school district was a victim of a ransomware attack. It is clear to see how easy this type of criminal attack could reach any number of those 50 million visitors and how quickly things could get out of control, especially where tourists on average spend over 400 dollars on the strip each night.
0:06:00
That's where we get our cyber people to work with our National Guard because they have cyber
0:06:05
in the state of Nevada and in most states, but here we're pretty strong relationship.
0:06:10
Closely related to what a cyber threat could do, George Tagliati also discussed that while blockouts and power outages are not an everyday occurrence here in Las Vegas, they happen often enough that everyone should be prepared for them and use them as training for future events. The Strip has seen five of its major casinos face power outages this year alone. While a power outage may seem like a minor inconvenience, summer temperatures in Las Vegas are often over 110 degrees, generating excessive heat warnings. The CDC lists extreme heat over 110 degrees as one of the major risks during the time of a power outage.
0:06:52
Power outages in casinos are, I'm not saying they're everyday occurrences, but they're fairly common. And it's something that everyone has to be prepared for.
0:07:03
Tagliati suggests the smaller power outages are a great way to practice, prepare, and plan for larger scale events. From hotel rooms to the gaming floor, it is vitally important to ensure that protocols are being followed and guests are staying safe. If fear or chaos erupts, the risk of violence increases. Additionally, Captain Corrin recognizes the multitude of different threats from increased violence we face in this nation and in the city of Las Vegas. He is optimistic in our ability to overcome these challenges, but recognizes the increased violence on the Strip and points out violent crime is the primary current threat he is facing.
0:07:41
One of the most significant threats at the moment that is emerging has to do with just our violent crime. And I'm not referring just to the violent crime that we're experiencing here in the local community, but I think just as a nation, what we're seeing in a lot of major cities is an increase in violent crime, and in particular an increase in shootings and an increase in firearm related activity.
0:08:03
Some of the increase in violence can be attributed to riots and protests that turn violent due to the current political and social unrest. While these riots could be considered isolated, as recently as of June of this year, according to a Las Vegas Metro to Police Department after action report, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and National Guard were deployed to the strip. Captain Corrin discusses how the current threats related to the protests that turned violent have impacted the officers and responders.
0:08:34
In Vegas, we had hundreds of protests, the majority peaceful. However, there were a portion of them, nationally we know that it's about 7%. Locally, I don't know the exact percentage, but a small number of them that not only were violent, but were ultra violent. These were unprecedented levels of violence that we haven't seen in decades.
0:08:56
Captain Corrin recognized that the violent protests were a significant challenge for law enforcement because of the level of violence they were confronted with. CS gas and other low lethal options are not preferred, but those difficult decisions need to be made when faced with such violence, damage to the community, and officer and public safety.
0:09:15
And so we deal with some of that ultra level of violence regarding some of the protests and then just the difficulty of just managing some of the other civil disobedience events even though they're not violence. At the end of the day, it's complicated and it requires a lot of resources and we've always been a big proponent from the very beginning. Our sheriff and everyone in this agency firmly believes that we are full partners with our community.
0:09:42
Captain Corrin also recognizes terrorism as another current threat that is ever present in a city like Las Vegas and explains how the 1 October shooting was similar.
0:09:52
Another threat that I think is consistent but it's very easy to become complacent to is the terrorism threat. Being responsible for policing the Las Vegas Strip definitely keeps terrorism front and center on my mind, not just because I've personally spent quite a bit of my career in that topic of combating terrorism, but also just when you have the Las Vegas Strip, one of the world's most premier and recognizable international tourist destinations in the world, you worry constantly that there could be another terrorist attack here within our community and even though 1 October is not technically categorized as a terrorist attack because we don't have a political ideology that was used for motivation in that particular case, the impact is no different than any other terrorist attack. You know, it's a mass casualty incident where someone, you know, took advantage and preyed on our community, killed a lot of people and injured a lot more people and created a sense of terror that, you know, we hope we'll never see again. But whether it's mass attacks like that that may not be politically motivated or actually politically motivated acts of terrorism, either foreign or domestic, that is definitely another area that we are certainly concerned about.
0:11:15
Keeping the community safe is a number one priority. And the best way to do that is to keep first responders healthy, both mentally and physically. Unfortunately, one of our officers, Shea McElowness, was shot in the head during these riots. And as a protector of the peace, it really hits home how quickly these incidents can escalate and how important it is that as a community, we keep everyone safe, including our first responders. Captain Corrin had a unique viewpoint that the challenge to maintain first responder well-being was also a threat.
0:11:48
This is part of the reason why Sheriff Lombardo not only has made violent crime a priority, but has also made officer wellness a priority because he and I think the rest of the leadership here realize it's important that we keep our officers healthy, healthy state of mind, healthy physically, so that way they can do their jobs, they can serve their community properly, we can reduce the amount of errors and mistakes and just keep them going in a positive direction.
0:12:14
We would now like to shift gears and spend some time talking about what we can do
0:12:18
as professionals and as citizens to prepare for these threats. In the context of dealing with these current and future threats, our experts had some advice for new emergency managers. First, Carolyn points out the need to be able to evaluate the options you have available to do your job. A lot of people have great ideas and solutions, and you must be able to evaluate the credibility, effectiveness, and relevance.
0:12:50
Well, everybody's got the latest and greatest tool they want to sell you during an emergency. I can't tell you how many different kinds of disinfectant, how many different types of KN95s and N95s and shields and gloves and gowns and everything. Everybody wants to sell you something's coming out the woodworks during an emergency like this. And that happens in every kind of emergency. The last thing I want to hear about is the latest greatest sandbag when I'm in the middle of a flood.
0:13:22
George Tagliati emphasized the importance of maintaining relationships with other stakeholders, both official and non-official. Mr. Tagliati mentions that an incident is never isolated. In the event of a cyber incident, for example, Las Vegas has a dedicated cyber crimes unit that works not with just local divisions such as each county's police department, but as well federal agencies such as the FBI and National Guard. You have to have maintained that kind of close relationship to be successful at it more.
0:13:49
Because you're going to have to be able to lean on whatever resources are there when the disaster or when the incident occurs. Metro has a situation going on the strip right now. They got an operation because of the activity that was going on with some gang activities and some shootings on the strip. And they reached out and asked others for help. So we have sent also the highway patrol to help them. We've been confiscating weapons. A lot of people DUI driving up and down the strip, that kind of thing. So it's kind of an all hands on deck to bring whatever resources are available, particularly if it's once a disaster occurs, who's gonna be there. But you can also take, if you will, to use the analogy, take the temperature of the community and see, hey, how many protests do you have? Who are the people that are protesting? And to what level are they protesting?
0:14:49
Is there a degree of violence?
0:14:52
And then you do your homework and you go out and you meet with these folks so that you know when a protest is coming, that right away you meet with the leadership and engage them as best you possibly can.
0:15:02
Captain Corrin also agrees that emergency managers need to be involved with the community. Currently, the Las Vegas Metro Police Department has 16 community outreach programs listed on its website and is always looking for new ways to work for the community as well as with the community.
0:15:19
We really are trying to be very persistent in addressing the violent crime problem. And that involves high visibility police activity in the tourist corridor, involves a lot of proactive effort, involves a lot of community engagement. It involves having officers just make contact more with the citizens that are coming to the strip. So it's not about stopping people. It's more about engaging and talking to people. And so that effort has produced a lot of really good results.
0:15:49
George Tagliati describes his view on the value of his emergency managers.
0:15:54
When I look at the value of my emergency managers, it's the individual who has mainly the ability to do it, which involves not only the knowledge and expertise of all the myriad laws that are out there, okay, and all the requirements for the feds of what you can do with money and what you can't do with money, but that personal piece of it that the person is engaged. The person is engaged in the community.
0:16:25
In Las Vegas, the general public consists of many different parts, as there is the local community, tourist community, and the transient community that fits between the two. Carolyn talks about the tourists.
0:16:38
For tourists especially, it's really hard to reach out because people have a mindset of what kind of fun and activities they plan to come to Las Vegas for. And we try to remind people that we're a city, like many others, with big city problems, and they need to be mindful and aware of their situation and their surroundings at all times. This is something that, just because you're here for a good time, which is what we want you to do, come here, have a good time, but don't have so much fun that you lose all sense of direction, lose all sense of surroundings, and put yourself in harm's way. So that's the one thing that we try to remind people. And even for our own community, when you go out to other places to have your vacation, don't forget to bring safety with you. Pack safety in your bag with you and bring it along because you're putting yourself at even more risk when you're in a place that you're not familiar with the resources and surroundings and the environment that you're in.
0:17:38
She continues to discuss the importance of self-awareness and preparation. She offers advice to the public about how to step up and lead and how to be an active participant in our own safety.
0:17:49
The hardest thing to get through to individual people is understanding how to apply the potential of an emergency to themselves, to their own lives, internalizing it. Because first and foremost, nobody ever thinks it's going to happen to them, period. Because if you walked around all day every day thinking that the sky is going to fall, you're going to make yourself crazy, right? So people put it out of their minds, keep it in the back of their minds and they never think it's gonna happen to them. And then they see a news story and realize, oh, that could happen here, this could happen to me. So they rationalized not being prepared by saying, well, it might happen here, it might happen to me, but it won't be that bad. Right? Nobody ever thinks it's going to be that bad. Nobody imagines the one October shooting, certainly not here in Las Vegas, that that's the thing that happens in other places. So well, if it does happen happen here won't be that bad. And then things like 1 October happen and you realize, oh yeah, bad things happen and they can be that bad. Sometimes we forget that bad things happen to
0:19:01
good communities. Overlooking that bad things can happen in the places where we live, play, work, and visit, despite our best efforts, and we need to prepare for that. The cavalry will arrive.
0:19:12
But here's the real, the reality. You are the cavalry, right? The Johnny Doe on the street is the one who's responding first to any emergency. And we saw that on 1 October. People taking off their own clothes to make bandages and loading up truckloads of people to take them to the hospital. Those weren't the cavalry, right? Except that they were. Individual people, citizens, community people are the ones that are always there at the emergency first. So we have to do everything we can to prepare ourselves to be the good neighbor, to take care of our own families, to take care of our
0:19:55
friends, and to be ready for those emergencies. Captain Corrin also sees the need for agency and community coordination. He recognizes the work that is being done with partners on the strip with regards to security measures and mitigation strategies. There are many people from the public and private sector fully engaged in protecting the strip. Coordination between different agencies is a collective effort and is making a difference and we are seeing success. Captain Corrin suggests that the public can help as well, but first shares a unique view on personalizing crime.
0:20:27
I want to preface this idea of personalizing crime. Our under-sheriff, Kevin McMayhill, kind of presented this idea to me once, and either he did it unintentionally during a briefing that I heard or in a conversation, but he talked about taking crime and making it personal. And what I mean by that for officers is you can't get caught up in the idea that another burglar, another robbery, another shooting victim is just one other statistic or another crime because you're not going to be as effective when you do that. When you look at crime as a part of just your job, you come in, you put on a uniform, you go deal with it. But when you make it personal, you can be far more effective. And the good example I would give is, imagine if someone tells you that their car got broken into. It's very easy to just say, okay, well that's really unfortunate, I'm sorry for you, and hopefully you didn't lose too much money, and maybe replacing the window that they broke or something is not that big of a deal, but ultimately, that's one perspective, but when your car gets broken into, or when your house gets burglarized or God forbid if you or your family member gets physically hurt as a part of a crime and it's personal it doesn't really matter how serious the crime was. Captain Corrin sums up this
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idea of public assistance and public partnership with one question. The
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citizen support that we're getting about wanting to really address this violent crime issue. So to that end, I really like this concept of co-producing public safety. And I think that's where we are in today's world. I think that we can no longer view policing as a police or law enforcement job. I think we have to look at it collectively as a community. How do we co-produce public safety?
0:22:20
The Las Vegas Metro Police Department website is a valuable resource for a multitude of instances, such as when traveling by plane, staying at a hotel in the strip, identifying police, and many other helpful links. Emergency managers and first responders can only do so much and they encourage the public to help themselves and others around them with resources such as this. Captain Corrin expands his thoughts on co-producing public safety.
0:22:45
And then also the public has a role in holding the community accountable and making sure that we're doing our part, whether it's a citizen reporting suspicious activity, whether it's a citizen encouraging a police officer that's out on the street to help them stay motivated so they can continue to do their job effectively, whether it's a business owner who decides to invest a little bit of money into security by adding a security camera or adding a fence, or rather than just assuming that someone else or some entity or law enforcement will take care of it, that we all basically take a role in how do we make things safer, how do we co-produce public safety for our community.
0:23:24
George Tagliati sums up the advice for the general public with the following.
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And this is the general public is look out for yourself and look out for your fellow person. I mean it's important that they stay engaged and they stay informed. That's the best piece of it. And understand that in this world, we need each other to survive.
0:23:47
We would like to thank you for listening to this podcast about current and future threats in the Public Safety Series. During this episode, we focused on current and future threats, as well as received leadership advice for the emergency managers and the general public. We again extend our thanks to Carolyn Lovering, George Tagliati, and Captain Dory Corrin for their time and wisdom. This production was made possible by the team of Christy Ciccotelli, Joseph Marianetti, Von Heyer, Thomas Wilde, and Matthew Adams, while under the sage tutelage of the wise, though humorous, Dr. Joel Lieberman. Production assistance was provided by Mr. David Norse and Mr. Kevin Kroll. by Mr. David Norse and Mr. Kevin Kroll.
0:24:26
by Mr. David Norse and Mr. Kevin Kroll.
Transcribed with Cockatoo