LAS VEGAS –
Dubbed “America’s Party,” New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas is the second largest gathering to ring in the new year in the U.S. — behind only Time Square festivities in New York City — with more than 300,000 visitors descending upon the Mojave Desert's southern Nevada valley.
Hours before revelers arrive, a multi-agency effort formed at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department headquarters on Dec. 31. Members of the LVMPD, North Las Vegas and Henderson police departments, Clark County Fire Department, FBI, Nevada Highway Patrol, and other intelligence agencies, along with the Nevada National Guard, briefed on the upcoming event before heading out to the throngs of partygoers on the famed Las Vegas Strip.
For the past 26 years, this has served as the start of an overall effort to ensure safety at the Entertainment Capital of the World, but preparation begins months prior, and lessons learned over the course of the past quarter century provide a roadmap to success.
“Repetition calms uncertainty,” said Col. John Krueger, Nevada National Guard J3. “The fact that these same agencies get together every year prepares us for just about any security or homeland defense event that we may encounter.”
About 190 Nevada Guard Soldiers and Airmen were on duty to assist with crowd control, triage support, and ensure safety this year. The cooperative New Year’s mission is headed by Clark County Emergency Management and supported by the Nevada National Guard and local and federal law enforcement agencies. Various forms of cooperative mission and training exercises have occurred since the Y2K scare of 1999 and continued after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Most of the Guardsmen teamed with the LVMPD units on the Strip, including the 72nd Military Police Company and 240th Engineer Company, Nevada Army National National Guard, and downtown during the New Year’s Eve celebration. Members of the 152nd Medical Group, Nevada Air National Guard, supported local hospitals with outdoor triage care centers in case of a mass casualty event, similar to the Oct. 1, 2017 Route 91 shooting in Las Vegas that killed 60 people and injured more than 400.
“The ongoing relationship between the Nevada National Guard, the LVMPD, and the southern Nevada first responder community is second to none,” said Sgt. Timothy Frederick, LVMPD events planning section, and a lieutenant colonel, deputy J3, for the Nevada Army National Guard. “Mutual understanding, trust, and a lot of experience working together enhances our ability to ensure safe and successful events in Las Vegas.”
This year, events from the previous New Year festivities weighed heavy on security details, which included the Tesla cyber truck explosion at the Trump Tower in Las Vegas that injured seven during the suicide bombing of a former Army special forces soldier. Another incident in New Orleans during the New Year’s celebration occurred last year when a pickup truck rammed partygoers on Bourbon Street, killing 14 and injuring more than 50.
Those events, along with the recent shooting in D.C. of two National Guard members, provided a sober reminder for potential threats that could come during the 2026 celebration.
Fortunately, no major issues were reported by the LVMPD during the New Year’s festivities, televised nationally on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” with co-hosts Rob Gronkowski and Julianne Hough. According to a post on X by the LVMPD Traffic Bureau, officers made 835 stops and issued 805 citations. They arrested 54 people for DUI, and six others for different charges, as well as recovered one gun, the LVMPD said.
“Our job is to support LVMPD in their efforts to perform law enforcement duties around the Las Vegas Valley during America's Party here in Las Vegas,” said Brig. Gen. D. Rodger Waters, Nevada Adjutant General. “Obviously, the events of last year, along with the deadly D.C. shooting, weighed heavy on our minds this year. Our thoughts and prayers have been with the victims of these events. Thankfully, this New Year's celebration was relatively uneventful, and revelers were able to ring in the new year without major incident.”