‘A leader committed to Henderson’: City begins search for new police chief

The city of Henderson is officially beginning the search for its next police chief and is hoping to fill the vacancy by the summer, City Manager Stephanie Garcia-Vause told the Review-Journal on Wednesday.

The announcement comes nearly a month after the March 6 firing of former Police Chief Hollie Chadwick, who had been on leave since Feb. 13.

Chadwick was ousted after Garcia-Vause lost confidence in Chadwick’s ability to improve the department’s culture and operations, rather than a specific finding of misconduct or cause, according to a memo sent to Henderson Police Department employees at the time of Chadwick’s firing.

On Wednesday, Garcia-Vause would not elaborate on her decision to fire Chadwick, with a spokesperson citing a city policy of not discussing personnel issues, but said she took the last several weeks to talk with members of the police department and the public to gauge a best path forward. An application portal will open Wednesday, and the process is expected to take several weeks, she said.

“I’ve been trying to get a better understanding of the qualities they want in a leader,” Garcia-Vause said in an interview. “We look forward to hiring a next chief with a strong background in public safety and leadership, and so that will be a process that’s based on merit.”

The city has appointed deputy chief Itzhak Henn as the interim head of the department. The city had yet to receive any applications yet as of Wednesday morning, according to a spokesperson.

In a separate memo sent to police personnel this week, the city manager said her goal was to select a candidate “who possesses leadership qualities that align with the City’s mission, vision and values.” Garcia-Vause added in the interview that the search would include national and local candidates.

“I have heard from our officers that they definitely want a leader who is committed to Henderson,” Garcia-Vause said. “But, really, the most important thing to them was somebody who wasn’t going to just be here for a moment, but somebody who was committed to the community and wanting to see the future of Henderson continue with great public safety.”

Asked if the next chief of police would allow the department to assist federal immigration enforcement officials in detaining possible deportees, Garcia-Vause said it’s important the next chief works with “all regional agencies.”

“I think something that’s really important for us to remember is that we’re not an island, Henderson,” Garcia-Vause said. “We’re surrounded by the city of Las Vegas, Clark County. We have our partners in North Las Vegas and Boulder City. We are part of a region, so something that’s really important to me is that the next chief is committed to working with all the regional agencies because safety doesn’t stop. Criminals don’t stop on the city boundary, so, it’s really important to us to have great communication and to be able to leverage the resources of a really big agency next door to us.”

A March 4 Henderson City Council meeting was temporarily halted after two council members, Carrie Cox and Monica Larson, squabbled over the city’s reaction to the deadline Garcia-Vause had imposed for Chadwick to resign or be fired. An online petition calling for Garcia-Vause to be replaced surfaced on March 11.

But no matter who the next chief is, Garcia-Vause said she wants to ensure the city will be open with who it appoints next.

“Not everyone is going to be happy with decisions, and I understand that and I expect that to happen,” Garcia-Vause said. “We’re always trying to engage our community, and we have a very active community. But with personnel issues, there are some things you can’t talk about.”

Contact Casey Harrison at charrison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Casey_Harrison1 on X or @casey-harrison.bsky.social on Bluesky.