The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and its elected Sheriff Joseph Lombardo know firsthand the human life value of money spent for planning and training all LVMPD’s employees.

That planning and training saved hundreds more lives than the 59 which were lost on October 1, 2017, when Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino high-roller guest Stephen Paddock fired hundreds of rounds from his 32nd floor suite into a crowd of thousands attending the Route 91 Harvest Country Festival across Las Vegas Boulevard from the hotel.

This CNN news feature headlined Las Vegas police officers describe storming gunman’s room  reminds them and us of the real value of private security and law enforcement response planning and training.

So does the CBS 60 Minutes infotainment segment Storming Room 135.  As Sheriff Lombardo explains in the segment, the on-scene assembly of two LVMPD dog handlers, a SWAT officer, and a detective was hardly haphazard as the word ‘storming’ implies.  It was their planning and training that gave them the confidence and skills to quickly assemble and function as a coordinated first-in team.

OpenCdA is reasonably sure that when Sheriff Lombardo proposed his trip to Mumbai, India, in November 2008 to study the terrorist attack on hotels and other sites there that killed 164 people, some officials probably questioned the cost of that trip.  What could the Sheriff possibly learn that would justify such an expenditure of funds?  What is the real likelihood of a mass killing ever occurring in Clark County and Las Vegas?

Now they know.  The money spent for thoughtful planning and training saved lives on October 1, 2017.   Good leaders invest money on planning and preparing their employees.  Politicians spend money on memorials.