Keith Parenteau

Keith Parenteau is a twenty-two (22) year veteran with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and is currently the only fulltime Crisis Negotiator Team member assigned to the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Section. Before that, he spent over 17 years in the Narcotics Bureau, where he worked as an undercover detective, case agent, and a member of the clandestine laboratory team. 
For 15 of those years, he was assigned to a DEA/HIDTA Federal Task Force, as a Task Force Officer (TFO). This task force investigated mid to high-level international drug trafficking organizations with ties to the Las Vegas area.
 
This task force was also assigned as a wiretap group and conducted long-term wiretap/Title III investigations. These wiretaps involved traditional cellular phone interception as well as interception of email accounts, Blackberry’s, Facebook, as well as other social media platforms. In December 2003, Keith drafted his first Federal Title III. He was the first person in the Southern District of Nevada to draft an email Title III on a Yahoo email account. That case involved a negotiation between an undercover detective and the FARC in Columbia for the exchange of 400 kilograms of cocaine for assault rifles and RPGs.
 
This investigation resulted in the successful extradition and indictment of a high-ranking FARC member in the Southern District of Nevada. That was his introduction to federal Title III’s and state wiretaps. In 2005 Keith drafted his first Nevada State Wiretap, and between 2005 and 2018, Keith and his partners conducted wiretaps non-stop with few exceptions. He has authored or co-authored over 750 state and federal wiretaps/Title III’s. He has also drafted over 1000 Pen Register / Trap and Trace Affidavits with GPS precision location.
In 2011, while working a long-term wiretap investigation Keith and his partners investigated a methamphetamine drug trafficking organization, which led to direct ties with the La Familia Mexican Cartel, based out of Michoacán, MX.
 
This 1 ½ year investigation resulted in the largest seizures of methamphetamine in the state of Nevada. Keith and his partners seized 239 pounds of methamphetamine from a house being used as a methamphetamine conversion lab.
 Total methamphetamine seizures in this case over a 1-week take-down period resulted in the seizure of over 480 pounds of methamphetamine, 35 indictments, and 33 convictions. This investigation utilized 29 Nevada State wiretaps and lasted over 18 months.
 
As a result of this investigation, Keith earned the 2012 Nevada Narcotics Officer Associations (NNOA), Narcotics Officer of the Year. Keith and his partners also won a National HIDTA Award from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) for Outstanding Investigative Effort.
In 2014, Keith joined the LVMPD’s Crisis Negotiation Team as an ancillary team member. The team was comprised of 18 auxiliary members. Keith has responded to over 200 hostage/barricaded related calls.
 
In 2018 Keith was selected to become the first full-time officer and was promoted to Assistant Team Leader (ATL). Keith is currently assigned to the LVMPD CNT/SWAT Section. Keith oversees the LVMPD’s 40-Hour CNT certification school as well as creating training scenarios and debriefs for the team and in-service training. Keith also trains the LVMPD’s CIT Officers during the initial CIT training and the recertification classes.