Vegas crime stats way too high

After seeing your Page 1B stories Wednesday on burglaries and crime, I would like to say that the story did not tell me anything I didn’t already know since moving here. Crime in Las Vegas will get worse until the sheriff decides to do more about it.

The first thing that should be done is to close area commands and go to precincts. Nassau County, Long Island, has the same population and 300 fewer police than Las Vegas, but commands are broken into eight precincts. This makes the commanding officer of each precinct responsible for the crime in it.

The second thing Metro has to do is stop bunching burglaries in with property crime. This is just horrible management. You cannot group a burglary in with a 16-year-old throwing a rock through a window. Burglaries and robberies are felonies and should be separate entities. And remember: Every burglary that occurs could turn into a home invasion, meaning it turns into a robbery, which in turn can lead to a murder.

Another thing is to use Compstat. This is a system of tracking crime and helps put pressure on squad commanding officers and precincts to get their acts together.

Until some of these suggestions are implemented, Las Vegas will be heading down the same road as Philadelphia, Baltimore, Atlanta and every other crime-ridden city.

There is no excuse for Las Vegas having a crime rate like it does when just about anyone who wants to work can get work. I hope things will improve because I have seen what a city looks like when all hell breaks loose — which is what New York looked like in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

CHARLES HUMPHRY

LAS VEGAS

Word games

To the editor:

Re: the article entitled “It’s Nuh-VAD-uh, not Nuh-VAH-duh” in Friday’s Review-Journal. Although some of my fellow Nevadans prefer the “Nuh-VAD-uh” pronunciation, they can’t really expect everyone else to feel the same way, particularly those who know where the name comes from.

Nevada is a Spanish word meaning “snowfall” and, for this reason — and taking into account the fact that a substantial number of Nevadans, whether Spanish-speaking or not, were previously non-Nevada residents — it is quite valid and more appropriate to use the Spanish pronunciation of the word.

In Spanish, the “e” is always pronounced “eh” (as in “letter” or “better”), and the “a” is always pronounced “ah” (as in “mama” or “papa”). Also in Spanish, the word nevada is considered as comprising three syllables: ne-va-da. Thus, the word should be pronounced “neh-VAH-dah”, not “nuh-VAD-uh” or “nuh-VAH-duh.”

LEO DIOSO

LAS VEGAS

Promises, promises

To the editor:

The presidential election circus to which we were recently subjected should be seen for what it is — politicians trying to buy our support with promises they won’t or can’t deliver.

They promise universal health care. They promise to solve the looming Medicare and Social Security crises. They promise lower energy costs and an improved middle-class standard of living. They promise to improve our failed education system. They promise to fix our immigration problem. And they promise to solve global warming and eliminate pollution.

Only if they tell us the truth about the sacrifices required to solve these problems and how far they are willing to go to fix them can we choose qualified candidates to lead this country. We don’t need any more “leaders” chosen for their empty promises and how much money they spend to get elected.

If the country really wants universal health care, make it affordable and pay for it with higher deductibles on Medicare. If we want to preserve Social Security, decrease the benefits for high-income retirees. Admit that high energy costs are here to stay, and look for ways to economically increase supplies and cut consumption.

No more ill-informed schemes, such as ethanol, that result in $4 bread and $4-a-gallon milk while making big agriculture rich. If we want cheap labor, provide temporary work permits for foreigners. Eliminate free education for illegal aliens to free up the resources to teach American children. And refrain from doing anything drastic about global warming until it is proved to be caused by burning fossil fuels.

What we need is honest approaches to solving our problems, including the guts to make needed sacrifices.

Tom Keller

HENDERSON

Common good

To the editor:

Robert Slaby, in his Thursday letter, takes liberals to task for the global warming debate, specifically for not considering “that global warming may be a natural phenomenon occurring every 50 years.” I’m old enough to remember 50 years ago, and there was no global warming crisis then, nor, to the best of my information, do I know of any reputable source who claims it is so.

Of the other crises that he attributes to “Chicken Little liberals,” many occurred when conservatives were in power in this country. Of course, in those days liberals and conservatives actually joined together for the common good, something that no longer happens.

GLEN KANER

LAS VEGAS