43%: NAACP Faults Lombardo Comment On Policing Record

The Nevada NAACP branch said Wednesday that comments from Gov. Joe Lombardo about his law enforcement career are "deeply troubling, but hardly surprising." The response followed publication of audio in which Lombardo said he "marginalized other communities" during his years in policing, six days before the Nov. 3 election for governor.

The remarks came from a July 2 closed-door meeting with military veterans, where he was asked about how his leadership approach changed after he left Metro Police. In the recording, Lombardo said people who get "two feet into" a job "tend to marginalize other communities." He added, "I marginalized other communities as a result of that mindset." Lombardo also said officers "think the majority of society is bad" because "that's who they deal with on a daily basis." TheGrio obtained and posted the audio on Wednesday.

The NAACP release pointed to Metro Police records covering 2017 through 2021, when Lombardo served as sheriff. Those reports show Black people were involved in 43% of nondeadly use-of-force cases in 2021, compared with 40% in 2020, with the five-year average at 40%. The same documents put Clark County's Black population at 11% based on 2019 Census Bureau estimates. Nondeadly force incidents climbed from 774 in 2017 to 941 in 2021, a 22% increase, while police and corrections staffing rose 16%.

Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford, Lombardo's opponent, told TheGrio that Lombardo's "disdain for the people who elected him to serve is disqualifying." Ford said nondeadly force against Black residents increased under Lombardo and that such conduct caused "severe damage to public safety and relationships between the community and law enforcement." Lombardo's campaign said the claim that he would intentionally target any community is "a gross misrepresentation of his record and leadership," adding that his point concerned "recognizing that limited perspective, listening to others, and understanding issues beyond the scope of law enforcement." The campaign also said he "prioritized and expanded community-based policing" while sheriff.

Lombardo joined Metro Police in 1988, won the Clark County sheriff's race in 2014, and took a second term in 2018. He became governor in 2022, defeating then-Gov. Steve Sisolak, and entered office Jan. 2, 2023. He left Metro Police to serve in that role, and in a 2016 guest column he wrote that the agency was "recognized as a model agency on use-of-force practices."

Polling aggregator Pollsmax shows Lombardo at 45.6% against Ford's 43.6% in an average of 16 surveys. A Hart Research poll dated Oct. 25 put Ford ahead 49% to 45% among 950 likely voters, while RedBox Research found Ford at 46% to 43% among 1,407 likely voters in an Oct. 20-23 survey. A Global Strategy Group poll taken Oct. 8-13 showed Lombardo at 48% to 47%. Early voting closed Oct. 30 and Election Day is Nov. 3.

The NAACP said the mindset Lombardo described "fueled generations of racial profiling, excessive force, and mistrust" between police and the communities they serve, and that the group "demands accountability" for those disparities. The branch identifies as nonpartisan and said it expects officials from any party to govern fairly and protect civil rights.