Las Vegas police have made majority of recommended changes after shooting

The Metropolitan Police Department has completed 90 percent of the changes recommended in its “1 October After-Action Review,” an internal assessment released in July of the agency’s response to the Route 91 Harvest festival massacre.

The 158-page review included 93 administrative recommendations “to shore up any weaknesses” in emergency equipment, communications and training, focusing on how police should respond to any future mass-casualty incidents.

Of the 93 recommendations, 84 had been completed by Metro as of late December, the department announced Monday.

“This self-critique of LVMPD’s response has shaped changes in our preparation and training for future incidents at all levels of the agency,” Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said in a statement.

The attack on Oct. 1, 2017, during the final night of Route 91, killed 58 concertgoers and injured hundreds more. The gunman opened fire on the crowd from a 32nd-floor Mandalay Bay suite across the street before fatally shooting himself.

More than 1,500 Metro officers responded.

Some of the changes made in the last half-year included the creation of a “Major Case” investigative group made up of experts across the agency, equipping large venues with trauma kits, addressing issues with radio communications and filling gaps in training that were found during the internal assessment.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal previously reported that many responding officers faced overloaded radio channels during the attack, and that inside Mandalay Bay, radio coverage was spotty and unreliable.

The internal review found that the radio system “worked as designed” but identified the need to coach officers on when to use the radio in crisis. It also described the hotel’s limited radio coverage as the department’s “biggest challenge” at the time, noting that SWAT members in a Mandalay Bay stairwell had trouble reaching their commander.

“We hope that we never have to use these procedures that we are putting in place, but we owe the public an assurance that we will always place their safety and their well-being first,” Lombardo said in July, when the report was released.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.