By Kristen Hackbarth and Bob Conrad
The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office this week ended its participation in four regional law enforcement units. The units included the Sparks and Reno police departments, in addition to WCSO. WCSO officials said they removed their department from the regional units because there were no signed agreements for continued partnership. WCSO also cited “risk and liability” to WCSO personnel.
WCSO will no longer work alongside Reno and Sparks police departments and other agencies in the Regional Narcotics Unit, Repeat Offender Program, Regional Crime Suppression Unit and Human Exploitation and Trafficking Team (HEAT)—all units they’ve been a member of since inception.
According to WCSO spokesperson Mary-Sarah Kinner, the agencies have not had a signed agreement in place for three of those teams for five years. Negotiations had been ongoing between WCSO, RPD and SPD for several years, she added, and WCSO was prepared to sign an agreement that would rotate overall supervision of the teams between agencies on a bi-yearly basis.
“Sheriff Balaam’s top priority and responsibility is to protect personnel and the community,” Kinner said. “The lack of a signed [memorandum of understanding] (for more than five years) has created undue risk and liability for both personnel and the community, and the Sheriff is no longer willing or able to maintain such risk or liability.”
RPD spokesperson Christopher Johnson said the department is “evaluating all regional teams, their functionality, and partnerships” following the WCSO pull-out, but no disruption in services are expected.
Two WCSO detectives, who worked in the Regional Narcotics Unit, sued RPD last year. In August, they added Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve and two current council members to the lawsuit. A former council member was also added as a defendant. The city’s attorneys deny wrongdoing, but the case stems from the detectives alleging they were harassed by an RPD officer.
Apryl McElroy and Jessica Troup filed a federal lawsuit claiming former Reno Police Sergeant Paul Sifre made sexually explicit comments and gestures toward them while they were at the Nevada Narcotics Officers Association conference. They rejected in April a $500,000 “offer of judgment” that would have settled the case.
Sifre was working with the two detectives in the Regional Narcotics Unit. City of Reno attorneys said Sifre’s comments were not severe enough to be considered harassment. He is alleged to have had more than a dozen internal affairs complaints, one of which found he harassed McElroy and Troup, according to the lawsuit. He was allowed to retire under former RPD Chief Jason Soto.
“Upon information and belief (because all records surrounding these numerous IA investigations are in the sole custody and possession of Reno), Sifre’s numerous IA investigations involve confirmed and sustained complaints involving racial profiling, excessive force, sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, timecard fraud, insubordination and other code of conduct allegations,” the complaint states.
The detectives, through their attorney, said Sifre should have been disciplined and had better supervision.
City of Reno attorney Rob Bony this week denied a public records request from This Is Reno for Sifre’s internal affairs investigations. Bony said Sifre’s privacy interests are similar to that of a former assistant U.S. Attorney whose “privacy interest outweighed public interest in disclosure of a proposed termination letter in his personnel file.”
Sifre, Bony added, is a local government employee who could face stigma, backlash, embarrassment and shame, and, therefore, his personnel records should remain confidential. Concerns about Sifre’s behaviors were documented in anonymous emails to the council members and mayor as early as 2018. Those emails pleaded with the elected officials to ensure Soto held him to account.
“Chief Soto has repeatedly protected Sgt. Sifre from being held accountable despite various complaints about his behavior,” the anonymous complaint in 2018 read. It is not confirmed if the case is related to why WCSO pulled out of regional units.
Kinner said WCSO is working with several federal task forces to continue work in narcotics, crime suppression and sex trafficking. An agreement was in place for the WCSO’s participation in the Repeat Offender Program, but Kinner said the Sheriff’s Office “withdrew because of staffing needs for the federal task forces.”
Johnson said RPD is reorganizing its teams with other partners, but will continue the work alongside other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
The region’s Crime Suppression Unit has been in operation since 2015, and the HEAT and narcotics teams formed in 2019. According to Skinner, all of the teams paused during the COVID pandemic and then restarted.
All of the agencies involved contribute staff time and resources to conduct the work, and secure grants from state, regional and federal agencies to cover some of those costs. Staffing includes administrative support, sergeants and officers, several lieutenants and victim advocates.
RPD in a media briefing today cited statistics from the Regional Narcotics Unit, saying it had seized 761 grams of heroin, or about 1.6 pounds.
