MGM Resorts International has hired at least five former Metropolitan Police Department SWAT team members and several former members of the military to help the company bolster security at its Las Vegas Strip.
The moves began late last year following the October mass shooting in which a gunman firing from a hotel suite at MGM’s Mandalay Bay killed 58 people attending an outdoor concert and wounded hundreds more.
Spokeswoman Debra DeShong said the program actually was launched prior to the attack.
“MGM developed an Emergency Response Team Program as part of our commitment to continuous improvement of daily operations and to assess and address security risks,” she said.
The former police officers and their counterparts from the military will form what one former Metro detective called a “civilian version of a SWAT term,” spearheading the response to any emergencies at the company’s resorts and training security personnel at the various properties. Their efforts are being bolstered by the hiring of emergency response team officers “responsible for providing both highly visible and covert professional armed security to the property to complement existing security programs,” the company said.
They will not have police powers to make arrests, the former detective said, but they can “deploy tactics to make it safe until law enforcement arrives. They can utilize low lethal or even lethal means if they deem it necessary.”
