Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Henderson Police Chief Watson is fired weeks after being placed on leave

2018 Henderson State of the City Address

Yasmina Chavez

Former Henderson Police Chief LaTesha Watson is shown at the Henderson State of the City address on Jan. 10, 2018.

Henderson has fired its police chief.

LaTesha Watson was officially let go Thursday, weeks after her supervisor — Henderson Deputy City Manager Bristol Ellington — placed her on administrative leave on March 14.

Henderson officials apparently wanted a hushed separation, offering an agreement that sought her cooperation and contained non-disparagement and confidentiality clauses.

At the time, Watson told the Las Vegas Sun, she didn’t intend to sign it, essentially forfeiting $24,500 in severance, regular pay and health insurance until May. She contended that her 16-month tenure was marred by contention between a police union and her supervisor, against she and her administrative staff, arguing that she’d been unfairly let go.

Watson said that her administration received pushback for disciplining officers — including at least eight who she said were arrested on allegations of DUI or domestic violence — from the unions and the city.

She theorized that her gender and race may have played a role in her dismissal.

Watson, who retained an attorney and was planning to fight the dismissal, could not immediately be reached for comment.

After her dismissal, Watson referenced 10 complaints that targeted her in 2018 — the city spent more than $50,000 for an independent firm to investigate them. The complaints were unfounded or fell short of policy violations, according to the investigative reports.

However, in one of the documents, the investigator wrote that “it is more probable than not that there is a serious morale issue amongst supervisory personnel at (the department). Chief Watson seems to believe that individuals bringing forward complaints are a small number of disgruntled employees. At this point, that does not appear to be the case.”

After she was let go, the city released three additional reports of investigations conducted by the law firm Littler Mendelson, which recommended firing Watson.

According to the recent investigations, Watson disobeyed orders from Ellington, who also is black, by changing promotion guidelines for captain positions, and she insinuated she had ears in executive board meetings of the Henderson Police Supervisors Association, the union that represents sergeants and lieutenants within the agency, the documents said.

“I believe that Chief Watson has engaged in inappropriate and ineffective leadership of (Henderson Police) that is unlikely to be cured and creates vulnerability to the city,” the author of one of the reports wrote. “It is unlikely that coaching” or changes could prevent “the issues from reoccurring.”

Watson was brought to Henderson in late 2017 as an “agent of change,” after the former chief departed amid a sexual harassment investigation. She previously served as a deputy chief in the Arlington Police Department in Texas.

Deputy Police Chief Thedrick Andres, who came to Henderson with Watson from Texas, will continue in her former role, the spokeswoman said.