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"In fewer than two days, the U.S. Department of Justice will release the findings of its investigation into the Albuquerque Police Department.It's a process many cities across the country have gone through, including Las Vegas, Nevada, which is about the same size as the Duke City.Similar to Albuquerque, a spike in officer-involved shootings and one man's death in particular spurred community outrage in Nevada. This caused the sheriff to voluntarily call in the DOJ, and review use of force policies and practices.VIDEO:\u00A0Las Vegas' DOJ probe very similar to AlbuquerqueIn November 2012 the findings were released after an eight month investigation. The DOJ handed down 75 findings and recommendations to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.It found the need for significant changes to the use of force review board, new tactical practices when multiple officers respond to a crime scene and implementation of new technologies like body cameras.The Las Vegas Review-Journal's crime reporter Mike Blasky has covered the shootings and DOJ investigation extensively. He has seen a major change since the DOJ's recommendations were implemented.\"Shootings have been down since they came in, a lot of the officers that I have spoken to on the street, they are giving credit to these reforms,\" said Blasky.Blasky explains the major changes have been reality-based training for officers, de-escalation training for all officers and changing its pursuit policy.\"Not ramping up a situation where you don't need it there. If there's not a life or death situation in front of you, let the person get away. Don't risk your own life or risk a shooting, that has been the directive the last couple of years,\" said Blasky.Blasky also said the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has been more transparent since the DOJ came in.\u00A0\u00A0\u00A0\u00A0For example, they have an immediate press briefing after an officer-involved shooting and another press conference 72 hours later to release information from the preliminary investigation.During its investigation in Las Vegas, the DOJ interviewed nearly 100 officers and community members.It also went on several ride-alongs with officers to observe how they conduct themselves."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.koat.com/article/las-vegas-doj-probe-very-similar-to-albuquerque/5055738>