Police say the rule will prevent stampedes and unruly behavior, but critics call it overly harsh.
People on the Las Vegas Strip will no longer be allowed to stop on pedestrian bridges aside from “incidental and fleeting viewing” after Clark County commissioners passed an ordinance on the matter Tuesday morning.
The ordinance, which supporters say will help with crime and pedestrian safety but opponents say criminalizes harmless activities, prohibits stopping, standing or congregating on the pedestrian bridges and up to 20 feet where the bridges connect to street-level sidewalks.
Violators could face a misdemeanor charge and, if found guilty, up to six months in jail or a $1,000 fine. Signage of the new law will be posted on and around the bridges, officials said.
William Sousa, a UNLV criminal justice professor and director for the university’s Center for Crime and Justice Policy, conducted a report for the commissioners and found that from 2018 through 2022, calls for disorderly conduct on the Strip were “disproportionately concentrated” on the pedestrian bridges and accounted for 11 percent of calls for disorderly offenses.