Rick Skipton used to ride his bike along the trail at the wash near Owens and Walnut, but not anymore. “There were literally hundreds and hundreds of gang symbols on every surface,” Skipton said. “I thought ‘gee, this doesn’t look very safe.’”
Skipton is right. Thirteen Action News found graffiti on the walls, light poles, pretty much anything the eye could see. “It made me feel uncomfortable,” Skipton said.
Skipton and dozens of other neighbors crowded the room at the Alexander Library for the North Las Vegas police department’s first-ever community-connection meeting. Their goal: to come up with solutions to make the streets safer.
Thirteen Action News asks police what they are doing to reduce gang activity so neighbors can feel more secure.
“We do want more officers out on the street,” said Ofc. Aaron Patty, with North Las Vegas Police Department. Patty also said his department is graduating about 40 new cadets each year. “That’s going to create more opportunity to focus on gangs, things like that,” Patty said.
The department is working with Henderson and Las Vegas police departments to reduce gang crime.
