Officer safety is top of mind right now, after law enforcement across the country have been killed.
North Las Vegas Police, Henderson Police, Nevada Highway Patrol and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police are all having their officers go out in pairs.
North Las Vegas Police said they do not want to comment on their decision to go in pairs. Henderson Police and NHP say they made the move to increase officers safety.
"One of the first benefits is absolutely a rise in safety for our officers," said Jesse Roybal, LVMPD public information officer.
Safety is not the only reason to put officers together.
"Being able to be in that patrol car with another officer, and just being able to, when you have those uncertain concerns or things that are going on, someone that you can talk to about it right there in your car who really does understand what's going on," said Roybal.
While keeping the officers safe, LVMPD promises they will be able to keep us safe, with the same level of service.
"The amount of our officers are still the same," Roybal said. "We still have the same officers out there, we just may not have as many patrol vehicles that might necessarily be visible. But we do have that same level and that same amount of officers out there patrolling the streets."
Former LVMPD Lieutenant and 13 Action News Crime and Safety Expert Randy Sutton says that is just not realistic and that there will be delays in service.
"Because there are two officers in a car, that means less cars out in service," said Sutton. "If you got five cars in a sector with one-man units, suddenly you have two cars in a sector handling the same amount of calls."
LVMPD said they always send two officers to high-priority calls where there is a public safety risk. But Sutton says we should expect delayed response time on all but the most urgent of calls while officers are paired up.
"When you have an atmosphere like that, when you have almost the indiscriminate shooting, killing and attacking of law enforcement officers, they have to do something to protect themselves," Sutton said.
LVMPD spokesmen said there is no specific threat against their officers, but they are reacting to events around the country.
