Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009 | 12:02 p.m.
Sun Archives
- Fusion center's attention on prevention (5-22-2009)
- Sheriff's anti-terror force: Strip workers (4-24-2009)
- More Homeland staff may be needed (11-5-2008)
- On the front line against terrorism in Vegas (2-7-2008)
- Fight over, all together now against terrorism (1-22-2008)
- Anti-terrorism fusion centers comes together (7-31-2007)
- Gibbons loses senators' backing for fusion center (5-18-2007)
- Gibbons fusion centers plan greeted with dismay (5-9-2007)
Beyond the Sun
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will pay for a tourism intelligence analyst for Metro police within the Southern Nevada Counterterrorism Fusion Center.
The board today voted to spend up to $480,285 in a three-year commitment for the position, which would be overseen by Metro.
Although the vote was unanimous, some board members expressed reluctance to commit to paying for a position that isn’t overseen by authority administrators. But in the end, the board was persuaded that the new position could be used as a marketing tool to assure conventiongoers that they would be safer in Las Vegas than any other place when they attend a show.
“We have the only convention center in the country, maybe the world, that has its own police substation,” said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who heads the authority’s board. “We have the only convention center in the country, maybe the world, that has its own fire station.”
The counterterrorism center consists of counterterrorism, tactical crime analysis, critical infrastructure, emergency management, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear and explosive response teams.
The intelligence analyst, who would be recruited by Metro and appointed by Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie, would be a liaison to the authority on criminal and terrorist activities. Metro officials say that while no major terrorism threats have been uncovered in Las Vegas, the city is an acknowledged potential target.
The agreement the authority approved commits it to spending up to $148,808 in the 2010, $159,556 in 2011 and $171,921 in 2012 based on anticipated cost-of-living and merit increases.
Ray Suppe, who oversees security for the authority, will join a board of governors that makes policy decisions for the counterterrorism center. Other board representatives are from Metro, the local FBI office, the Nevada Public Safety Department, the Henderson and North Las Vegas police departments, the Clark County School District Police Department, the Clark County Fire Department, Las Vegas City Fire and Rescue and the Clark County district attorney’s office.
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