Henderson Police
Thedrick Andres
Tuesday, July 2, 2019 | 7:30 p.m.
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Henderson has appointed a new police chief.
Deputy Chief Thedrick Andres will officially take charge on Monday, city spokeswoman Kathleen Richards said. He filled in for more than three months after the previous police chief, LaTesha Watson, was fired.
Henderson Deputy City Manager Bristol Ellington, who’d given Andres “specific guidance” that he fulfilled, expressed confidence in him and his ability to lead, Richards said. It wasn’t clear when he will be officially sworn in.
Ellington suspended Watson in March after a series of complaints were probed by an independent law firm, Littler Mendelson, which determined that “it is more probable than not that there is a serious morale issue amongst supervisory personnel at (the department).” The investigation cost the city more than $50,000.
Despite the investigation's conclusion, the complaints fell short of policy violations, according to the investigative reports. At the time, Watson told the Las Vegas Sun that she attributed the complaints to contentious relationships she had with a police union and Ellington during her 16-month tenure.
Watson theorized that her gender and race may have played a role in her dismissal.
She and Ellington are black.
Watson also said that her executive team faced pushback when it tried to discipline officers, some of whom had brushes with the law.
During Watson’s tenure, five officers were arrested. Two were booked on domestic battery counts, two on DUI and another on battery, the Sun has learned.
Officer Todd Rasmussen, who was convicted of misdemeanor DUI, and Officer Kurt Avery, who was convicted of misdemeanor domestic battery, have since been “separated from the department,” according to a police spokesman and Henderson Municipal Court records.
After probing additional complaints, Littler Mendelson recommended firing Watson. “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.”
According to the recent investigative reports, Watson disobeyed Ellington by changing promotion guidelines for captain positions, and she suggested that she had ears in executive board meetings of the Henderson Police Supervisors Association, the union that represents sergeants and lieutenants within the agency.
When Ellington suspended Watson, he apparently offered an agreement that called for a hushed separation. It contained non-disparagement and confidentiality clauses. At the time, Watson said she didn’t intend to sign it, essentially giving up $24,000 in severance and regular pay and health insurance until May.
After Watson was brought to Henderson as an “agent of change,” she brought Andres along from the Arlington Police Department where they both served together.
