1. Part I

    Always Justified

    Las Vegas police shoot often but seldom are disciplined.

    Visit the section
  2. Part II

    142 Dead, and Rising

    Many of the 378 shootings could have been avoided.

    Visit the section
  3. Part III

    Quick to Shoot, Slow to Change

    Las Vegas police are slow to deal with problems.

    Visit the section
  4. Part IV

    Broken System, Shattered Lives

    At every step, the inquest system protects police.

    Visit the section
  5. Part V

    Better Ways

    What Las Vegas can learn from other police departments.

    Visit the section
Part IV: Broken System, Shattered Lives

District attorney's office doesn't treat police shootings like other Las Vegas homicides

Prosecutors in many American cities step in as the public's watchdog in the aftermath of a police shooting, but the Clark County district attorney's office is content to sit on the sidelines. It doesn't treat shootings by police like other homicides and it won't even review an officer's use of deadly force unless the sheriff or a chief of police requests it.

And when it comes to presenting the facts of a fatality at a coroner's inquest, prosecutors switch hats and instead become the police officer's defense.

In the fourth in a five-part special series, the Review-Journal found that the much-maligned inquest system is a red herring, designed to divert attention from a system that protects errant officers from the minute they shoot until the coroner's jury rules their actions justified.

Faces of the Dead

Since 1990, police in the Las Vegas Valley have killed 142 people in 378 officer-involved shootings. Clark County coroner's inquest juries cleared the officers of wrongdoing in all 142 deaths, but many could have been avoided and some remain highly controversial. In an unprecedented research project, the Las Vegas Review-Journal obtained all the available public records on all fatal and non-fatal shootings. This gallery covers the 142 dead.

Friday, May 25, 2012
Overcast Overcast, 79° Weather Forecast