According to the Nevada Police Union, Nevada State Police (NSP) notified them that they can no longer staff patrols 24 hours a day due to pay inequity that caused a staff shortage.

NSP announced that there will be no assigned coverage from the hours of 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. in the Washoe County, Reno, and Sparks areas. State Police went on to say the department will continue to monitor and adjust schedules as needed. 

State Police say, like other law enforcement agencies across the country, they're also facing staffing, recruitment, and retention challenges. In a statement just released, they say, "The scheduling adjustment in Reno will provide a greater level of service to the public and allied agencies during hours of highest demand.... We will ensure that our service to the public and support to allied agencies continues without gaps by utilizing overtime, on-call, and callout options, as necessary."

The Nevada Police Union released this statement: 

"We [Nevada Police Union] have continuously sounded the alarm on pay inequity that directly caused record-high turnover and vacancy rates of state police, which leaves Nevadans less safe," said Dan Gordon, president of Nevada Police Union. "As a union, we are doing everything we can to draw attention to this issue, but it ultimately comes down to the State’s leadership to make public safety a critical priority and take expedited actions to adequately fund State Police. The previous administration ignored our many calls for intervention to mitigate our declining staffing levels, which left Nevada in this consequential position. We are working directly with Governor Lombardo and the Legislature to find ways to alleviate this issue."

Now Governor Joe Lombardo's spokesperson has responded by saying in part, "As a law enforcement officer for more than 30 years, Governor Lombardo understands public safety and has been aggressively engaged since taking office. As he made clear in his State of the State Address, Governor Lombardo proposed two-grade pay increases and significant cost of living increases for all public safety employees who were blatantly ignored over the past four years by democrat legislators."

Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro released the following statement after the shortage was announced:

“The administration’s decision to cut overnight state police shifts in Washoe County is unacceptable. Weeks ago, on behalf of Senate Democrats, I introduced Senate Bill 440, which would immediately raise the pay for all state workers, issue back pay owed to our state police, and allow us to more quickly begin addressing this vacancy crisis in public safety. Unfortunately, this bill has met political resistance from the administration and its allies at every step, including Senate Republicans’ unanimous opposition to the bill on the Senate floor. We should stop playing games with Nevadans’ safety and work to resolve the staffing crisis in our state police."

Cannizzaro introduced senate bill 440 in the legislature which would raise pay for all state workers and issue back pay owed to state police. She says that bill is meeting unanimous opposition from senate republicans.

As we have reported in the past, wages at other law enforcement agencies in the area are higher than Nevada State Police, making it hard for them to recruit and retain troopers. The Nevada Police Union also says they are working with the governor and the legislature to find solutions.