retiring Doug Gillespie. He won the primary election and narrowly defeated the Democratic nominee, retired LVMPD captain Larry Burns, in the November 4 general election. Lombardo took office on January 5, 2015. As sheriff he was head of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the combined law enforcement agency of Las Vegas and Clark County and Nevada's largest law enforcement agency, overseeing more than 5,000 officers. After becoming sheriff, Lombardo began the decentralization of LVMPD's detective operations, shifting detective operations from centralized crime-specific units to distribution of detectives throughout LVMPD area commands. In 2016, Lombardo connected the Las Vegas crime increase to a California law called Proposition 47, which is meant to reduce prison overcrowding. Later that year, he responded to questions about a recent spike of violent crimes in Las Vegas, saying that the surge "keeps me up at night". He later disagreed with FBI director James Comey's statement attributing a recent spike in violent crimes in Las Vegas to a so-called Ferguson effect. In December 2016, Lombardo supported a high-capacity magazine ban, a call supported by the Las Vegas Sun editorial board. By February 2017, Lombardo had concluded that the number of homicides in Las Vegas increased by an average of 20 each year. In September 2017, following the arrest of Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett in Las Vegas, Lombardo dismissed Bennett's allegations that two police officers who arrested him used excessive force and made vulgar threats, claiming video evidence of the arrest did not corroborate Bennett's allegations. Following the 2017 Las Vegas shooting at Mandalay Bay and Route 91 Harvest, in which 59 people died and 527 were injured—the deadliest mass shooting in the modern U.S. history—Lombardo oversaw the investigation into the shooting and into the perpetrator, Stephen Paddock. Second term (2019–2023) Lombardo won the 2018 primary election with 73% of the vote, defeating four challengers. He was sworn in to a second term on January 4, 2019, and during the ceremony touted an expansion of the LVMPD's staff levels during his tenure (an increase of more than 900 officers and 280 corrections officers). Later that year, Lombardo's department issued a report recommending many changes to improve the police response to future critical incidents. During the George Floyd protests in mid-2020, the LVMPD arrested at least six people observing a protest along the Las Vegas Strip. Governor Steve Sisolak called for an investigation. Lombardo defended the