-Another example of making purpose out of tragedy can be found at the Joint Emergency Training Institute in the Northeast Valley.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department says the One October shooting highlighted the need for the state-of-the-art reality-based training campus.

It includes a tactical training village, which opened about a year ago.

Metro Lieutenant Casey Clarkson, who was shot while responding to the One October shooting, now runs the training village and gave us a tour.

-This is what we call our Joint Emergency Training Institute, also known as the JETI.

This is where we train not only Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officers, but also other departments around the Southern Nevada area, so including North Las Vegas, Henderson, the University Police, our marshals, and even our Nevada State Troopers.

-Lieutenant Casey Clarkson takes pride in preparation.

The tactical training village he helps oversee is designed to prepare law enforcement and first responders for the settings... -We have a gas station in the back over here.

We have motel, hotel, and a restaurant.

- ...and high-stress scenarios they'll likely face.

-Every year, multiple times a year, we'll put on bigger scenarios to where we provide our officers that stress inoculation, right?

So we'll have role players that'll be running out.

We'll simulate darker rooms.

We'll have loud noises, whether it's people screaming, crying, music going on, something to create that extra stress, because a lot of times, even in Route 91, there was music on, there was a lot of screaming, couldn't hear the radio between a lot of people trying to get on it, and there's a lot of background noise.

So we have to be able to adapt and overcome.

-On October 1, 2017, Lieutenant Clarkson was shot in the neck while responding to the Route 91 shooting.

(Casey Clarkson) I felt a burning sensation; but when there's a threat somewhere else, you're kind of focused.

-He received a Purple Heart for his injury, and Metro Police put this video together in honor of that recognition.

His experience on One October inspired the work he now does.

-Is there something at this training village that would have helped you that night?

-Yes.

I think, I mean, we now, for some of the officers-- Well, for me personally, I was working the grounds of the event, but some of the training that we did and learned on better communication, how we communicate, setting up incident command, some of those little things that we could do in the field to help kickstart the event a little faster, for that part of it.

But I would say with this facility, with how we respond to hotels and casinos, if we had to, if there was an active assailant inside shooting at an elevated position, we would definitely have the tools necessary now in this facility alone to be able to assault and take that suspect down quickly.

During Route 91, obviously, we had to make entry into the Mandalay Bay to stop a threat.

Our sheriff wanted to make sure we had the best equipment necessary and the best communication with our hotel properties, and a lot of our hotel properties came down through and looked at what we need.

So you'll see slot machines.

You'll see table games.

You'll see this is our lobby.

We have a security room.

We actually have a room back over here that we can create hotel rooms and like hotel hallways if we needed to respond that way as well.

-An active assailant, mass casualties, and domestic violence--Clarkson says officers can train for all of them here.

-All of these rooms are completely modular.

If we have an incident that's a trend going on in the nation that we feel we need to move this around--like, hey, we want to make this a school, we want to make this an office, we want to make this like we would see in like conventions, like just different spaces for their shows--we can do that here.

-The Tactical Training Village even has a nightclub, hence the disco ball.

And Metro says when its officers are training here, the lights are low, the music is loud, and there's even a fog machine.

-So we give them scenario after scenario so that they comprehend what it is that we're teaching them.

We use ammunition rounds to make a little bit more stress.

We can change the lighting here.

We can change the sound.

We can have fire alarms to try to essentially throw every curveball at an officer we can here so if they ever do encounter it on the street, that they know how to respond, they have that repetition of training that they can go right into muscle memory and act.

-That repetition, says Clarkson, also helps officers switch their mindset from crime fighter to war fighter, a skill he considers crucial for local law enforcement.

-It's Las Vegas, right?

And will there ever be an active assailant that happens on our Strip again?

Maybe.

We hope not.

But as we always like to say in police work: It's not if, it's when.

And we wanted to make sure we had all the training space necessary to address those threats.

-The Joint Emergency Training Institute, as a whole, opened in 2024.

And Metro says a $35 million fundraising campaign through its foundation paid for most of it.