Preventing terrorism in Las Vegas is the main mission of Metro's Fusion Center. Now it's also proving successful in solving local crimes. Nevada Senator Harry Reid got a first hand look at the crime solving brain of Southern Nevada.
Senator Reid compares the center to healthcare. He says in many cases we use doctors to prevent illness in the same way the Fusion Center can prevent not only terrorism but local crimes as well.
The murder of an Ashley Furniture Store manager last November, the Palo Verde drive-by shooting death in February and the biological agent ricin found in an extended stay motel during the same month seemingly have nothing in common -- except the Fusion Center.
Information for all three events came into the center. It was quickly processed by local, state, and federal law enforcement and acted on.
"I guess the Fusion Center would be an investigation on steroids," said Deputy Chief Joe Lombardo, Metro Special Operations. He runs the center. He says the quick flow of information also averted a terrorist panic several weeks ago.
A man was placing packages outside the elevators at Caesars Palace. "He was seen on security cameras placing those items in various locations. This individual was identified through the Fusion process by contacts with security surveillance rooms," said Lombardo.
The quick I.D. revealed concerns about his background. Within minutes, police located him and detained him for questioning. It turned out the packages were empty, and there was never any threat.
"If we did not have that information and availability of that information, we would have expended an exorbitant number of resources locating this person and evacuation of Caesars Palace and so forth," said Lombardo.
Thanks to the Fusion Center, none of that was necessary. Quick federal information from the center also played a role in the ricin found last February just off the Las Vegas Strip in an extended stay motel.
"In this case, it was almost a relief to prove that this was an isolated incident -- not part of some larger scheme or some larger group," said Steven Martinez, FBI Special Agent in Charge.
As for solving local crimes, it was Fusion Center detectives who connected the dots from the Palo Verde investigation to solve the Ashley Furniture homicide. The center will continue to process information 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It operates under federal Homeland Security grant money.
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Deputy Chief Joe Lombardo, Metro Special Operations
