Henderson police chief responds to unions’ no-confidence votes
Henderson police Chief Thedrick Andres said Thursday his confidence is not shaken after both police unions took a vote of no confidence against him.
“I’m the first to say let’s sit at our table and have responsible conversations,” Andres said in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Our No. 1 goal is to protect and serve this city. We are one of America’s premiere police departments because of our employees. My confidence remains the same. We will move through this.”
According to a statement from the Henderson Police Officers and Henderson Police Supervisors associations on Wednesday, more than 95 percent of their respective members who voted last weekend said they had no confidence in their chief.
The unions cited the department’s new use-of-force policy, which was announced Tuesday, as a point of contention, saying the unions did not get a chance to collaborate on it.
Andres said the department is not required to negotiate policy changes with the unions, but he did provide the documents to the unions two weeks before the policy went on the interdepartmental blog. After two weeks, the policy was posted on the blog, where employees could comment for 30 days before the public was alerted to the change. The policy itself was not publicly available as of Thursday.
The comment section will remain open for a total of 60 days, and Andres said a meeting is scheduled with the unions for Nov. 17 to discuss possible revisions.
“It’s important when we sit down on that to be very transparent looking at policy and show the research we’ve done,” Andres said. “It’s a policy backed by the Department of Justice based on solid research.”
Andres was sworn in as police chief in July 2019. Before taking the role, he had more than 25 years of experience in law enforcement that included positions at Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola State Prison, the New Orleans Police Department and the Arlington Police Department, according to the city’s website.
He took over from Chief LaTesha Watson, who was fired in April 2019.
The unions are expected to present the results of their vote to the Henderson City Council at its next meeting, which is scheduled for Nov. 15.
Andres said he is proud of the work he has done as chief.
“I plan to continue to try to be the first one to sit at the table with our unions and to work in a collaborative process,” he said.
Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.
