LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – The city of Henderson is taking steps to find a new police chief.
This would be the city’s 5th chief, since 2017.
This comes a month after veteran cop Hollie Chadwick was fired, less than two years as the police department’s top leader.
We have asked the city a couple of times to speak with Stephanie Garcia-Vause since Chadwick’s firing and on Wednesday, we finally heard from the City Manager.
“We will fill that position by this summer and that process will be as transparent as possible letting you know what’s happening, and we will go through it, and the next chief will be selected based on their track record, and their leadership. I want to thank the officers of the Henderson Police Department,” Garcia-Vause said.
The city of Henderson allowed FOX5 to interview Garcia-Vause, with the conditions of it being strictly ten minutes and that we do not ask about Chadwick, and only ask about the “path forward.”
However, FOX5 still wanted answers as the search is on for a new police chief.
“Our vision is to continue to be one of the safest cities in the country, and we want to see that our officers are doing that today out on the streets making sure our crime rates are down doing what they are doing day in and day out, and so we want to make sure there is an alignment with our city’s mission, vision, and values and that is what we are looking for,” Garcia-Vause explained.
Victoria Saha: You mention leadership qualities, in your March 6th memo you stated, it was clear to me that our vision and leadership quality styles were not aligned when speaking about Chief Chadwick. You were the city manager for 3 months give or take do you think that was enough time to make sure your leadership styles matched? And will that be enough time to make sure the next chief’s leadership style matches with yours?
Garcia-Vause: Thank you for that question and I have been here with the city of Henderson it will be 30 years. I understand how things work but I’m here to talk about the future of our community. The future of the recruitment that we have and looking towards that next leader who is going to be committed to developing a strong pipeline of future leaders within the city of Henderson.
Saha: You mentioned transparency a few minutes ago, do you think with everything that has happened and what’s to come, you are being transparent enough to the public because that has been a concern that has been heard in public meetings.
Garcia-Vause: I would say I hear it, but we are committed to transparency anyone who does business within the city of Henderson knows any of our public meetings have to be posted, we share information on the website, through social media we have so much information we put out there.
Saha: Speaking about transparency, how do you make sure this doesn’t happen let’s say 2 years from now, and that we are not back here again talking about the next chief that’s going to come.
Garcia-Vause: I don’t want to do that either. I’m fully aware about what’s transpired in the past. I am fully committed to finding a leader who is committed to the same things, and to really developing the strong pipeline. When the next chief transitions out, there is a succession plan and we are committed to that succession plan so it’s a more seamless style.
Saha: What exactly is it about leadership style that you want to make sure align with your values?
Garcia-Vause: I would say the city has a set of values and you can see them on our walls everywhere throughout our organization but we are driven within integrity to achieve excellence… Those are our values, that our next chief will have to embody those and demonstrate those.
Saha: Earlier this month in the city council meeting someone had mentioned an article I had done with the police officer’s union, talking about Chief Chadwicks firing they asked was it based on perceived rift with the city police unions, or was there an actual rift, so I’m here to ask you was there an actual rift?
Garcia-Vause: I can’t discuss if there was a rift between the chief and the union, the union is a separate entity, they do their work. I’ve heard them talk about the challenges they have had so this was solely based on a decision that was my decision and what I thought was most important for the future of the department and to ensure the quality of life that we have in the community.
Saha: So was there a rift between you two when talking about your leadership styles not aligning?
Garcia-Vause: We are not here to talk about personnel matters but I am here to talk about what the future looks like.
Saha: I totally understand that I’m not asking for a personnel file I am asking you to elaborate on public comments made by you that were sent out by your city PIOs.
Garcia-Vause: I appreciate Hollie’s 20 plus years of service to this community, but I don’t comment on any personnel matters, but what I am willing to chat about today is really is taking a look at the future and how we will have a new chief who is committed to developing a pipeline of future leaders within the city and continue to keep the city safe which is one of our top priorities.
Saha: Moving forward how will you make sure the public has trust in city government and our police department when it comes to road blocks when it comes to transparency?
Garcia-Vause: I don’t agree with you I don’t agree there are road blocks, to transparency there is a difference between transparency and private information. And in the city we have great residents who are highly engaged we have high city satisfaction rate and we will continue to provide all the information as we can and as we go through this process of recruitment we will share information when it becomes available.
Saha: What are the exact qualities you are looking for? I’ve heard from police unions that they are hoping it’s a younger generation of a police chief, someone who is going to be in it for the long run and not just serve out 2-3 years, your thoughts?
Garcia-Vause: My commitment and the unions may have their perspectives and I have mine but I spent the last few weeks with the unions to find out what things were important to them and it is a leader who is going to be committed, someone who appreciates the community the Henderson community. Someone who is committed to developing the future pipeline. Our officers see it too and our officers and our community have seen it too the transitions that have happened, and so I want to see a strong future for our community
Saha: What does a strong future of Henderson Police Department look like for you as city manager?
Garcia-Vause: As city manager it is someone that is going to work with the other department directors to work collaboratively to live our values I mentioned earlier, to find a balance because the police department is one department of many and we have to work collaboratively to achieve those goals.
Saha: Is summer still an accurate approachable goal?
Garcia-Vause: Summer is an approachable goal we will keep the community apprised if there are any changes. It all depends on the recruitment process so as the recruitment process unfolds we are not going to hire someone just to hire someone.
Saha: How important is it for you to make sure it is an internal candidate?
Garcia-Vause: It’s important to me that we have the right candidate and the right candidate could be from a variety of places so it’s more important to me that we find the right candidate
Saha: What do you say to the public who have shown up to the meetings and you know there was a clear division they wanted answers this is your chance to maybe give those answers they wanted. I know you can’t talk about personnel matters but the public is trusting the city government to give them some answers.
Garcia-Vause: To the public I would say thank you for your patience and I understand not every decision a leader makes is a popular one and not everyone is going to agree but I did not make this decision lightly and I am committed to making sure we have the right people in place to continue the great quality of life for all of our residents in the community.
Until a new chief is selected, Deputy Chief Itzhak Henn will remain acting chief.
Have a tip? You can reach reporter Victoria Saha at [email protected].
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