Veteran trooper is No. 1

CARSON CITY -- Longtime trooper Tony Almarez was named chief of the Nevada Highway Patrol on Thursday as part of a number of promotions announced by Jerry Hafen, director of the state Department of Public Safety.

Hafen also promoted current Chief Chris Perry to the position of deputy director of the Public Safety Department.

And he named Pat Conmay, a former Los Angeles police officer, as chief of the Capitol Police. Jean Gagnon was named chief of training and John Stewart deputy chief of investigations.

Amarez, a 22-year officer, has worked in Elko, Reno and Lovelock and has been the department's public information officer in Northern Nevada.

In 2005, he was named deputy chief of the Highway Patrol Division in charge of northern command operations. Then he was assigned to headquarters in Carson City where he worked on legislative bills, personnel and the budget.

Perry started his career in 1982 as a patrol officer in Las Vegas. In 2006, he was appointed chief of the Highway Patrol, managing 639 police and civilian employees.

Conmay started as a patrol officer in Los Angeles in 1973 and worked in homicide, narcotics and other assignments before his retirement in 1998. He moved to Nevada in 2000 and served as investigator for the Division of Aging Services and later as inspector general for the Department of Corrections.

Gagnon began his law enforcement career in 1983 and has worked for the attorney general's office, the North Las Vegas Police Department and even for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. For 16 years, he worked in training police and military officers, including those who were deployed for combat duty in the Middle East.

Stewart began as a trooper in 1985 in Tonopah and has worked in Reno and Las Vegas. In Southern Nevada, he was deputy chief of the southern and central commands.