Las Vegas police arrest several people as part of their crackdown on crime in Chinatown

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (FOX5) – In February, FOX5 reported on a new Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department task force dedicated to curbing crime in the Chinatown corridor. Now, seven months into their mission, we get an update on progress so far.

The Chinatown corridor has long been known as a hotspot for crime, particularly car break-ins.

“Crime has always been a problem in Chinatown, ever since we’ve been here and long before that,” says Colin Fukunaga, concept developer for the Fukuburger restaurant.

For this reason, the Metro Police has created a task force whose goal is to curb crime in Chinatown.

The Spring Mountain Anti-Crime Resource Team – or SMART Team – consists of two officers, but in the Chinatown community they are known as Mike and Ike.

Since being deployed to the area in February, they have built relationships with business owners, identified their concerns and gained their trust.

“Since our SMART team was formed in February of this year, they have been able to contact every single property manager or business owner along the Spring Mountain corridor,” said Katie Geiger, Captain of the Spring Mountain Area Command. “We have been able to build a huge contact list so that when there is an issue in this area, we can communicate with everyone and get the word out faster.”

By communicating directly with the people of Chinatown, police are now learning about crimes that would otherwise often go unreported, such as car break-ins, Geiger said.

“As a result of this follow-up, we were able to arrest eight people who frequently committed car break-ins in this area,” Geiger said.

“At first I thought it was just a show, but Mike and Ike and the Spring Mountain Area Command are fully committed to solving this problem,” Fukunaga said.

SMART officers now meet regularly with Chinatown business owners like Fukunaga, who is positive about the progress made but says car break-ins in particular are still a big problem – the last break-in occurred just a few weeks ago.

“We were in a meeting with Metro when our staff asked us to return to the restaurant because there was a break-in at that exact moment. So it was a coincidence, but it showed how serious the situation is,” he said.

Overall, Fukunaga said he believes Metro and business owners here are on the right track to combat crime in Chinatown. He wants to encourage more business owners to attend these meetings with Metro police and openly address the problems they face.

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