Las Vegas Weekly

Metro supports pedestrian safety with its turkey ‘sting’ operations

The Thanksgiving-inspired operation reminded drivers to stop for pedestrians.

Photo: Gregan Wingert

How do you combat one of the Valley’s most serious problems? With a sense of humor and a turkey outfit, of course. In one of the more inspired publicity stunts in the history of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, officers spent a day last week holding “sting” operations in several areas of the Valley to remind motorists to watch out for pedestrians ... dressed as turkeys ... trying to cross the road. Hard not to notice an officer in a yellow and red animal suit in the crosswalk, right? Wrong. In one day, officers had handed out 64 tickets to drivers who failed to stop, 15 more tickets than during last year’s turkey sting. It’s a funny visual, for sure, but all signs show this program is working. There have been 27 pedestrian deaths in Clark County so far this year, 19 of those in Metro’s jurisdiction, far fewer than just eight years ago, when 66 pedestrians were killed in Clark County. Officers say they might dress in Santa suits as part of the Christmas program, but we say go a few steps further: bunnies for Easter, leprechauns for St. Patrick’s Day, Freddy Kruegers for Halloween and Oscar Goodmans for, well, any day of the year. If making a fool of yourself is what it takes to save lives, spare no expense—or costume.