Reno Pays Settlement to Deputy Police Chief

The City of Reno has approved a $330,000 settlement with its soon-to-be-former Deputy Police Chief. 

Almost every city council member called the settlement “rewarding bad behavior,” but the council voted five to one in favor of paying Deputy Police Chief Dave Evans $330,200 from the general fund. City Manager Andrew Clinger says the city faced the prospect of paying Evan’s salary for 3 or 4 years at a cost of more than a million dollars, or settling for the lower amount and moving on.

“The money is within the budget, again do we like the fact that we have to use the money in the budget to pay for this no, but it is the best decision we could make given the hand we were dealt in this case,” said Clinger.

Evans had been recommended for termination after he was secretly recorded saying that another officer “needs to go down.” Evans asked a Reno district court to intervene, saying the recording could not be used against him because of a city policy that bans secretly recording city employees. A judge agreed and that left the city with no choice but to settle.