Henderson criticizes ex-police chief’s management in letter

The city of Henderson is calling on a state commission to toss a complaint filed by its former police chief.

LaTesha Watson filed the complaint against Henderson last year with the Nevada Equal Rights Commission, claiming she was discriminated against because she is a black woman. The city’s 28-page response on Jan. 13 offers a rebuke of Watson’s leadership style and approach to labor groups, and denies her claims of discrimination.

“Based on Ms. Watson’s dictator-like leadership style, it appears that she believed working with the unions as a sign of weakness,” Assistant City Attorney Kristina Escamilla Gilmore wrote.

The ex-chief’s attorney, Marc Cook, said he could not comment on the response because he has not seen it.

Watson’s September complaint alleges, among other things, that Henderson did not investigate a racist website that she claims contained disparaging remarks by Henderson police officers. The city said it never heard concerns from Watson, but after receiving her discrimination complaint, looked into the website and found no evidence that officers posted in threads about her.

The letter chronicles the battle between the former chief, her officers and city executives, including summaries of investigations into Watson’s conduct that began in the summer of 2018 and continued until shortly before she was placed on administrative leave in March of last year. The city’s response contains more than 400 pages of exhibits, including investigative reports and emails.

Henderson could not have treated Watson unfairly with an outside investigation because it regularly outsources investigations when high-ranking employees face complaints, the letter says.

It also outlines her efforts to unilaterally change the department’s promotion policy, which her boss, Deputy City Manager Bristol Ellington, overturned. Ellington is also black.

Ultimately, the city fired Watson in April. It hired her deputy chief, Thedrick Andres, who is also black, to be the new permanent chief.

Lack of collaboration

Watson’s hiring came on the heels of third-party investigator substantiating claims against two white Henderson police executives. Both men left the department.

Initially, she was given space to review and change the department, but she was never authorized to run it without collaborating with other city departments, the letter reads.

“The longer Ms. Watson worked for the city the clearer it became that she believed she was superior to other department leadership and that her department could be run independently from the rest of the city,” the assistant city attorney wrote. City management and human resources officials often had to reverse the chief’s decisions because she thought she independently ran the department, Henderson claims.

She often either declined or did not show for meetings with the Henderson Fire Department, according to the letter.

“When she did attend the meetings, she rarely contributed to the discussion and appeared more interested in the content on her cell phone,” the letter states.

And a union-busting complaint lodged against Watson and others could have been avoided entirely had she been more respectful of her employees and their unions and collaborated with other city departments, Henderson claims.

Leadership coaching

Ellington noticed “challenges” with Watson’s attitude and leadership after he took over as her supervisor in July 2018, according to the letter. Some captains on the command team felt mistreated and disrespected by the chief and decided to retire early, the letter alleges.

In December 2018, Ellington emailed Watson to say he had concerns with her management style, including her use of a religious leadership book chapter in training and making negative comments to staff. He said he would provide a coach to help her with management techniques.

Watson pushed back on the critique of her use of religious materials in training, saying the reading came from a leadership book, and that the city routinely asks attendees of city council meetings to bow their heads during prayer. She also said she had all meetings transcribed, and that assertions of her making broad-based critiques of employees were lies.

Henderson claims Ellington went “above and beyond” to help Watson improve her relationships with the unions, her command staff and other departments.

“Ultimately, this never happened for Ms. Watson because she refused to take any advice or accept accountability for her actions,” the letter reads. “And in the end, Ms. Watson’s refusal to self-reflect and improve her leadership style led to her downfall.”

Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.