Agencies review worst-case scenarios for Vegas New Year’s Eve

Robert Macy

Thursday, Dec. 9, 1999 | 1:01 a.m.

The scenarios included reports of a bomb in the lobby of the MGM Grand Hotel, another at Harrah's Hotel in Laughlin, unruly mobs and a light pole collapsing, injuring five people.

Southern Nevada authorities went through a tabletop drill Thursday, preparing for the worst when hundreds of thousands of visitors and locals converge on the Strip New Year's Eve.

"This has the potential of being the largest crowd in the city's history," Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Undersheriff Richard Winget said above the din in an Incident Command Center. "We have to plan for the worst, the most unruly crowds, then hope for the best.

"We want to look at what could happen, anything from terrorist activities to unruly crowds."

Some 100 representatives of law enforcement, public safety and utility agencies were on hand for the three-hour drill.

"A design team put the scenarios together and the responders didn't know in advance what to expect," said Samantha Charles, a Clark County spokeswoman.

Estimates of the Strip crowd have ranged from 400,000 to 700,000 Winget said, with police expecting closer to the lower figure. The number will include as many as 300,000 visitors, with the variable being how many of the area's 1.3 million residents decide to join the party.

Metro will have 900 officers working the crowds, and will be joined by the Nevada Highway Patrol, Henderson and North Las Vegas Police and the Nevada National Guard.

Winget said police expect a repeat of the crowd problems New Year's night, and more trouble on Sunday when of Southern Californians head home.

In Thursday's drill, representatives of various agencies gathered in an Incident Command Center, where officers will receive first word on trouble spots.

They confronted a series of scenarios that had been scripted by the design team:

Rowdy revelers will be bused to an area five miles from the Strip where they will be cited and released. More violent offenders will be incarcerated in the downtown Clark County Detention Center.

"Our job is going to focus on crowd management and the elimination of violence," Winget said. "We plan to accommodate a party atmosphere, but not accommodate violence."

Thursday's event was a "tabletop" exercise and did not involve any officers in the field.

Metro Lt. Marc Joseph said the exercise was "as real as it gets" in providing the training for New Year's Eve.

"We are ready," Winget said. "We're just anxious to get going and get it over with."