Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024 | 1:36 p.m.
The Las Vegas City Council unanimously voted today to expand the boundaries of the city’s order-out corridor by 29 acres to include the Plaza Hotel and Main Street Station parking garage.
The ordinance allows a judge to ban people from tourist corridors for misdemeanor offenses committed in those areas in a move they say reduces crime.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Nevada opposed the expansion of the ban, saying it could be challenged in court because similar legislation by Clark County is being disputed.
“Expanding the order-out corridor boundaries before the constitutionality of the ordinance is decided would be premature and could lead to further legal complications. It is essential that any changes to the order-out corridor are guided by the court’s forthcoming ruling,” said Tia Smith, an attorney with the ACLU. “Beyond the constitutional concerns, respecting the judicial process by waiting for the court’s decision is not only prudent but reflects the city’s commitment to upholding the rule of law.”
In August 2022, Clark County passed an ordinance creating an “order-out corridor” that stretches across most of the Strip and some nearby properties like the Rio. It allows courts to order people out of certain areas as a condition of a suspended sentence or deferred action of a criminal offense.
It was a move met with resistance by the ACLU, which filed a joint amicus brief last summer in support of Ackeem Ramsay, a man on supervised probation who was banned from the resort corridor.
It argued that barring Ramsay was unconstitutional because it infringed on his First Amendment rights.
The ACLU claimed Clark County’s proposal “was specifically meant to target people accused of low-level, nonviolent offenses and has been the basis for hundreds of arrests within the last year.”
Las Vegas in November unanimously approved creating an order-out corridor for two visitor-heavy neighborhoods — the area surrounding Fremont Street in downtown and the north end of the Las Vegas Strip to encompass the Stratosphere.
“This really is a critical first step for us and it is only to protect everybody, including law enforcement,” Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who sponsored the original order-out ordinance, said at the Nov. 15, 2023, meeting.
When considering future expansions during last year’s meeting, the Plaza and the Main Street Station parking lot were included.
Some exemptions for someone under the city’s order-out corridor could include those who live or need to work in the areas; those who need to seek medical or legal services in the areas; those who need to access federal, state and local social programs in the areas; those who attend religious services in the areas; those making a legal appearance in the areas; or those accessing public transportation in the areas.
The ordinance is aimed at chronic offenders, City Attorney Jeff Dorocak said in November. Metro Police would be able to ban these people from the specified tourist corridors for repeated misdemeanors rather than put them in jail, he said.
Jason Potts, the chief of the Department of Public Safety, said a systematic review conducted a few years ago revealed that 10% of all chronic offenders account for 60% of all crimes.
At a July meeting, Dorocak, Las Vegas assistant city attorney Carlene Helbert, Metro Police Capt. Adam Seely and Potts presented data to the city council as an update on the order-out corridor’s impact on crime.
There was a 10% decrease in victims of crime on the Fremont Street corridor and an “astonishing” decrease near the Strat within the past year because of the city’s order out policy, Seely told council members on July 17.
“I do believe that this is impacting our violent crime in those two corridors,” Seely said. “The significance of this is … we’re talking about less victims of crime. I do believe it is a result of the partnership and the policing that we’ve been doing in both areas and the fact that we’ve been able to have fewer victims of crime in both areas.”
From Nov. 27, 2023, to June 30, there were 246 defendants instructed to order out, according to data presented by Helbert. Nine of these defendants were sentenced twice — meaning they committed a crime, were ordered out, returned later, were “closed out” with jail time, then went back again and were ordered out a second time.
In total, 81 people were jailed for violating the order and nine became repeat offenders, with more than half of the 81 people experiencing homelessness, according to the presentation.
Most violations — over 200 — occurred within the Fremont Street Experience from Main Street to Las Vegas Boulevard. Fremont East had 31 defendants violate the order out rule, and the area near the Strat had only seven, the data showed.
Trespassing was the most frequent offense, with battery in second, obstructing or giving false information to an officer in third and disturbing the peace in fourth.
Seely, during the July 17 meeting, recommended that the city council expand the order-out corridor around Fremont Street to encompass the Main Street and Plaza properties.
“Acting without this guidance could lead to actions that infringe upon the constitutional rights of your constituents, especially those already vulnerable to over-policing and profiling,” Smith said during the Wednesday meeting. “Proceeding with this proposal in the absence of judicial clarity would not be hasty but would also be seen as dismissive of the significant issues currently being waived by the court.”
The ACLU of Nevada added that it was “dangerously vague” because it didn’t set concrete rules for exemptions and can be decided on a case-by-case basis, which could lead to profiling of people experiencing homelessness, street performers and protesters.