Lost Vegas? MURDER; RAPE skyrocket as Sheriff Joe Lombardo focuses on campaign for Nevada Governor

A staggering 44% increase in murder. An almost double digit percent rise in rape. Car theft is up over 10% and burglaries are soaring as well. Those are the final year over year numbers reported by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department as 2021 came to an end.

In October, Metro Sheriff Joe Lombardo was reported by Jacob Solis of The Nevada Independent as saying crime rates in Las Vegas were "Very Good" compared to the rest of the country. Yet an in-depth study by the National Commission on Covid and Criminal Justice showed that while murder percentages were ascendant, the increase in homicides across the 32 participating cities in the study topped out at 24%. That cumulative number was well below the final year over year jump reported by the Vegas Valley's largest policing agency.

Furthermore, data from the National Fraternal Order of Police showed killings in areas covered by Lombardo's Metro Department well outpacing the rising rates of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

While neither Sheriff Lombardo nor his staff have commented on these dramatic end of year numbers, it is expected that the issue of law and order, or the lack of it, will continue to play an outsized role in Lombardo's gubernatorial aspirations moving forward.