Amid ongoing concerns about rising crime rates in and around the Las Vegas Strip, he city of Las Vegas is trying something new with its judicial framework—starting next year, a new court known as the Resort Corridor Court, headed by Justice of the Peace Melissa Saragosa, will oversee all crime cases that take place on the Strip or surrounding areas.
The change is related to the city’s recent expansion of its “order-out” ordinance, under which judges can ban individuals from frequenting the Strip if convicted of a crime; the parameters of the ordinance have expanded since its introduction to include all crime types, even if they don’t actually take place on the Strip.
Jim Gibson, chairman of the Clark County Commission, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he “personally met with all the justices of the peace and explained to them what we were doing, why we were doing it and our hope that judges would see themselves as an integral part of addressing a challenge that was large and needed attention.”
Nevada Resort Association President Virginia Valentine said in an email to the Review-Journal that the purpose of the new court is to “lower crime in the resort corridor, improve the overall employee and visitor experience, and get services for those who will benefit from them.”
The new court calendar is the result of several meetings that took place over the course of the year involving many different parties, including county officials, the Metropolitan Police Department and local businesses.
One entity that has already challenged the new court system is the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada (ACLU), whose legal director, Christopher Peterson, told the Review-Journal that the Strip can be a “public forum” for protests and activism.
Peterson argued that “If a government is going to try to keep someone away from a public forum, just completely cut them off from it, typically speaking the government needs to have a really good reason for that.”
Despite the opposition, the organization has yet to challenge the ordinance in court.
Crime on the Strip has been a top priority for Metro officials, who have tested out numerous initiatives in recent years to bolster their presence in the area.
Department statistics indicate that “person crimes,” or offenses involving assault, sex offenses and homicide, have decreased by nearly 10 percent year-over-year in the areas affected by the new ordinance, whereas “property crimes” such as burglary, theft and fraud have jumped by over 30 percent in the same areas.
In addition to crime, city officials also hope the new court will also help with the issue of homelessness on the Strip—if one judge is overseeing a particular area, they’re likely to see the same offenders multiple times, which may help develop relationships and direct more people to social services.
Metro Assistant Sheriff John McGrath told the Review-Journal that under the current system, homeless defendants usually go right back to the same locations after they are released from custody, and often become “very territorial to the area that they keep going back to,” which then leads to more violent crimes.
McGrath said that the new ordinance may help authorities gain the “leverage” needed to drive people to get the help they need.
