New Year’s Eve on Las Vegas Strip will have high security

LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas officials are expecting lower-thannormal attendance at the New Year’s Eve celebration on the famed Strip, but in light of October’s mass shooting, security will be at its highest level in years.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said this week that the Homeland Security Department had raised the New Year’s Eve celebration to the highest security level under its special events protocols — SEAR level 1. In years past, it was level 3.

The change, he said, will bring snipers with spotters, extra air support, more medical equipment and personnel, and mobile command posts staffed by federal authorities. The same security classification and measures are afforded to the Super Bowl and political party conventions for presidential nominations.

Lombardo said there would be more than 1,500 local police officers deployed for a three-day window.

Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak said he understood New Year’s Eve revelers might be worried about safety after the Oct. 1 mass shooting, and he sought to assuage those concerns.

“Nobody puts on a New Year’s Eve show like Las Vegas, and never will it be as safe as it will be this year,” Sisolak said. “The safety measures in place are impressive.”

It’s been three months since 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire from his 32nd floor hotel room at Mandalay Bay into a crowd of more than 20,000 at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival on the Strip. He killed 58 people and wounded hundreds of others.

The FBI has revealed little about Paddock’s motives. Special Agent in Charge Aaron Rouse told the Las Vegas ReviewJournal that the FBI would be issuing a report sometime before the anniversary of the shooting.

Lombardo has said Paddock, a gambler who played a lot of video poker, had sustained losses in recent years and may have been depressed. Paddock killed himself with a gunshot wound to his mouth, the Clark County coroner said last week.

Officials with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said tourism was down 4.2 percent for October and that the decline in attendance was attributable to the shooting.

Officials are prohibiting people walking along the Strip from bringing large bags, strollers, backpacks and coolers during the New Year’s Eve celebration.

“I recognize that is an inconvenience, but these restrictions are for everyone’s safety,” Sisolak said.