Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Published Friday, Sept. 25, 2009 | 4:22 p.m.
Updated Friday, Sept. 25, 2009 | 5:49 p.m.
Lourdes Smith
Metro Police have reassigned an officer after learning she is the subject of a Henderson Police Department criminal investigation, Metro spokesman Bill Cassell said today in a statement.
Officer Lourdes Smith turned herself into the Henderson Police Department Sept. 17 on a warrant for two misdemeanor charges that Henderson Police say stem from an ongoing feud between Smith and her neighbor.
Officer Todd Rasmussen of the Henderson Police Department said Smith faces misdemeanor charges of imitation firearm and destruction of property after she allegedly fired a BB gun at her neighbor's home. The imitation firearm charge, he said, means that Smith allegedly used an imitation weapon that looks like a real one to intimidate another person.
Rasmussen said Henderson Police have been called to either Smith's or her neighbor's home 33 times since 2007. The calls were for various reasons, he said.
"They seem to have an ongoing feud, for whatever reason," Rasmussen said.
Metro's Internal Affairs Office also is investigating the incident.
Smith, 36, has been with Metro since June 2001. She is a patrol officer in the South Central Area Command and has been reassigned to administrative duties with no public contact pending the outcome of the internal investigation, Cassell said.
You have got to be kidding me! This neighbor of the Smith family is the neighborhood nightmare. Grandma is an old drunk that sits on the porch and threatens kids and adults alike. Every family knows which house not to trick or treat to. Lourdes and her family are a beautiful family that have only their childrens best interest at heart. Henderson police need to do their homework and realize (when people threaten your family and your sanity because they choose to be trash and harass others for a pastime) you will go to no ends to protect your home and family. The 13 year old that lives there has threatened neighbor girls with rape and threatened to blow up the middle school. Someone neeeds to talk to other neighbors and get a handle on these nut cases we are forced to live with!
She should know better than to brandish a weapon, real or not at _anyone_.
Assuming the allegation is true.
Smith was caught on video tape attempting to shoot out the neighbor's video camera with a BB gun. If you or I did this, we would be arrested and no one would want to hear the sob story about the bad neighbor. Using a gun to resolve disputes is the perfect sign that the person involved should not be a cop in the first place.
No Robert, you wouldn't be arrested. Malicious Destruction of Private Property in this case is a misdemeanor and it wasn't committed in the presence of Police. That, in the state of Nevada is cause for a citation to be issued from one citizen to another. Chill out.
It seems like her fellow officers are circleing the wagons around one of their own (comments). It would not suprise me if the neighbors are targeted for retribution. The bosses did the right thing though. I sure would hate to be stopped by her if she was pissed off....she may loose control.
kayakarmada - what planet are you on. Smith was arrested as per the LVRJ:
"The rivalry between the next-door neighbors came to a head over Labor Day weekend, when Lourdes Smith, a 36-year-old Las Vegas police officer, was caught on the Trice family's surveillance video aiming a rifle-shaped BB gun at one of the cameras and firing.
She missed -- by about 8 inches -- but it was enough for Henderson police to charge Smith with two misdemeanor charges of damaging other property and using an imitation firearm in a manner that would be threatening if the firearm were real.
She turned herself in to police last week and was arrested, and now her own department has launched an internal investigation into the matter."
To Protect and Serve and if you don't do what I say, I'll shoot you.
Malicious Destruction of Private Property in this case is a misdemeanor and it wasn't committed in the presence of Police.
Uhhhhh! it was the police that shot the BB gun and had to be witnessed, On or off duty your still a police officer and should conduct yourself as such,
All persons involved should be held accountable, no one gets a pass.
Cops do watch out for cops. The brotherhood does protect it's own. Not passing judgment, but that's the way it is. What is disturbing in this case is the 33 call outs to the neighborhood. You would have thought that with the resources police have that the problem would have been resolved. Likely, there been no grounds for an arrest. It seems that the bad judgment shown here might be reason enough to suspect a person's ability to perform as a police officer. One has to wonder why the neighbor felt the need to record the officer on camera and the need of the officer to prevent that record. What could the cop have been doing that they felt the need to stop the filming of it with the threat of a firearm ? Really makes me stop and wonder.
Once again there is just one side to the story,and i for one would like to hear the other side before i pass judgement?She seemed to handle herself well the 33 times before,just made a bad human judgement call in the end.Every person has there breaking point.
A. Bad or mentally unstable cops need to be weeded out for the good of society.
B. If the Henderson police were called 33 times without referring the problem to some mediator than I'm glad I don't live in their city.
C. I would like to hear the Smith's side of the story.
D. She shouldn't have used a bb gun. She should have bought a decent powered laser and blinded the camera that was pointed at her back yard. Rubes like the Trice family would never have figured out what happened.
Lourdes must have a reason to hate her neighbor. News reports have the entire neighborhood hating the neighbor. This personal matter needs to be left up to Lourdes to resolve, one way or the other.
whether the neighbor is a nuisance is not the issue. as a cop, smith should have known better. stupid.
dwms...Metro is much more under control with Gillespi than the previous sheriff. It seemed like there was a shooting every week under Sheriff Young. It was (and still is) all the police officer had to say was "I feared for my life" and that gave them a license to kill. And this coroners inquest system is a joke. Can anyone tell me the last time the inquest system ruled a bad shooting from Metro? No organization is this perfect.
these stinking metro cops make the worst neighbors, always sticking their noses into everyone's business. why don't they live in a compound amongst themselves?
They are a bunch of crooks and kooks. Look at the retired cops running the HOA scams.
I hope the FBI does an investigation into police corruption in this area.
oh no racist comments--the perpetrator's picture is not one of a nonwhite so no comments on color but if she was--blame illegals, side of town, but since she's not no comments on her race? so I guess others DO commit crimes and in Henderson no doubt...no not that side of town! only one to blame is one person pictured-- not a whole race or even Harry Reid imagine that!
Get ready for the slap on the hand
mred....I like the various officers that live in my neighborhood. Keeps the crime WAY down. But again, I don't do anything for them to stick their noses into. Maybe you should try that. EVERY profession has their bad apples. But I guess that is not a true statement as I get from some of these posts that some of you are Saints. I'm happy for you. Moving forward. I guess the 33 calls means nothing? I agree with short_fat_hairy ref: (B). Did she do wrong? Yes. Is it excuseable? No. Should she be punished? Yes. But to those who have condemned her BEFORE getting ALL sides of the story: wish I lived near SAINTS like you! I wonder what it's like to be PERFECT like some of you on here? Never got so feed up that you did/said something you regretted later? I also love the double standard some of you have for LEO's: ...is an officer 24/7 statement. They can't seem to win. I've seen where off duty officers have jumped into action to help someone then get ripped apart for doing just that. But let it be found out that an off duty officer DIDN'T act!! It's not surprising that when an officer is off duty that they turn a blind eye now because "people" want to have it both ways(I often talk with them and see a different side of them). I no longer wonder why they get so fed up. All you have to do is watch the news, read the papers, then read the comments section to understand. It's damned if they do, damned if they don't. Are they perfect? By no means but then again, NO ONE IS. Except some of you here that is.
Classic...
I live next door to a METRO cop and he's the best neighbor I ever had. You should taste the bar-b-Q marinade he makes. The best!
Well, well, well, I must say I am surprised to see that this finally made the news. The shocking part is to see who got in trouble. We have all been waiting, holding our breath and hoping that something would be done about that family. Unfortunately Officer Smith was the unlucky one who was pushed too far and reacted. Call good old Bob Miller Middle and ask about the young Trice boy's record and rap sheet. If that doesn't tell you a bit about the type of family the ENTIRE neighborhood is dealing with, I don't know what other proof you could need. This family has threatened to kill other neighbor's pets, in fact to quote, they would "shoot the dog dead". Their son was quoted ,"I wake up shaking and sweating." How do you think his victims feel? This 13 year old has threatened to rape girls and do destruction to the middle school. Do his victims wake up sweating and shaking? How about the kids he threatens to beat up? What a travesty that the Trice family is losing their home to forclosure. Good riddance. Officer Smith should NOT have to pay for repair to a home that this family is letting go back to the bank.
"I've suffered and endured for so long, I'm a nervous wreck, and I just want people to know the truth," Victoria Trice, 36, said, fighting back tears.
Does this sociopath feel any sympathy for those of us who've had to endure her "disturbed" son? Feel any empathy for the kids who've been harrassed, threatened and bullied by herself and her entire family?
I for one, am certainly delighted that you are leaving the area. I won't have to worry about my daughters, my son, my family pets, my home or the entire student body of BMMS.
I am not in favor of reacting in a violent manner or encouraging anyone to do so. Everyone has a breaking point. You take an otherwise, sane and reasonable person, a mother, and a police officer even, and introduce all of the mitigating factors and she's bound to snap. ALL of us have a breaking point and can be pushed. I'm only sorry that she was the one it happened to.
I would also ask that Officer Smith be respected for the countless amount of good she has done in this community and to remember that we all as humans are fallible and not one of us is without sin in our own lives.
Seems like there is MUCH more to this story! The Trice family sounds like a terrorist group from what I've found out so far. I'm not excusing what Lourdes did but being an officer is what she does, not who she is as she is a human being and a mother first and foremost. She reacted wrongly but who knows what they would have done in whatever took place to push her over the edge? She does need to be punished but not fired. That will only make other officers put the blinders on period. I for one would like for one to jump in if I'm in a fix and need help. I'm happy that there is justice in that the Trice family will have to move but maybe some of you on here who has sided with the Trice family will gladly accept them as your new next door neighbors? mred - how about you? robert_lv? By the by, smith was arrested per LVRJ? When did the LVRJ replace the NRS??? kayakarmada is partially correct in that MDPP in this case(only facts known is what is reported in news reports though) is a misdemeanor but not all MDPP is. It can be a felony as well. And most misdemeanors have to committed in an officer's presence but there are exceptions, ie. domestic battery, etc. I have a degree in Criminal Justice so I remember most of it but not all. I guess what gets me is all the Monday morning quarterbacking that goes on. Until you know all the facts how about reserving your venomous attacks for the true guilty party. Then blast away.
Victoria Trice and her family are my new neighbors in Kihei, Hi. They moved next door to us in Maui on March 1, 2010. One week later Victoria called the apt manager and told them that our BBQ smoke was going into their apt. This was the beginning of our neighbor nightmare. Victoria has tried to attack me (her husband stopped her with his hand to her face and pushed her back onto her chair) and has verbally attacked me and my daughter twice. I wish that the people above would not write things on a web page that they know nothing about. I am with the person above, that those of you who sided with the Trice family should live next door to them!