Metro to beef up presence around Clark County schools on Friday

By Las Vegas Sun Staff (contact)

Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012 | 5:06 p.m.

Metro Police will have a visible, beefed-up presence Friday around schools in Clark County as a precautionary measure.

But the show isn’t tied to last week’s mass shootings at a Connecticut elementary school or rumored threats against schools making their way around on social media sites, said Officer Jose Hernandez, a Metro spokesman. It’s something Metro has done for years on days before schools head into an extended break.

“This is nothing new,” Hernandez said.

Metro’s focus will be at the start and end of the school day Friday, with patrols continuing at all Clark County schools throughout the day, he said.

At the end of classes Friday, Clark County schools will be on holiday break until they reopen Monday, Jan. 7.

Earlier this week, Metro and Clark County School District Police reported they’d debunked more than a dozen reports of threats at Las Vegas schools in the wake of the Connecticut slayings.

Authorities at a news conference Tuesday urged parents and others to be vigilant when they hear of or see a real threat involving a school. But they also asked parents and others to be careful not to spread or perpetuate unsubstantiated rumors.

Hernandez said Metro continues to investigate “anything that comes in” regarding threats of violence at schools.

Friday marks the one-week anniversary of the mass shootings in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 schoolchildren and six other victims at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.