Corey Solferino Is Unanimously Approved as Reno's New Police Chief After Predecessor Ousted Amid Yet to Be Specified Investigation

Former Washoe Undersheriff Corey Solferino who had been on paid loan to the City of Reno since an explosive investigation was announced of Reno PD leadership in March is now officially the new chief of police, after having served in an acting capacity for several months.

The vote at City Council was unanimous in his favor.

Earlier this month, Reno City Manager Jackie Bryant announced that Reno Police Chief Kathryn Nance, who had been on paid administrative leave since early March, amid an unspecified state level Department of Public Safety investigation, had been fired along with two assistant chiefs, Oliver Miller and Anthony Elges.

Three other officers are also being investigated, but have not been named, as they remain on paid leave due to their job protection.

“Today’s about our community,” Solferino said in prepared remarks before the council.

Bryant has praised him for steadying the department since he took over in an emergency situation. No one else was recruited to fill the city’s top police position.

Council member Naomi Duerr said she was impressed while previously meeting with Solferino in a sit down planned for 30 minutes which went over an hour and a half, saying “he was open and responsive.”

“What you do reflects on all of us,” she added of the important role. “I am very confident that you are going to show up well for us,” she said.

Mayor Hillary Schieve also praised the new police chief’s willingness to listen, in a time of trust erosion. “You said to me, ‘Hillary, we are not going to arrest our way out of the most difficult situations. It’s going to be bringing in more services and helping people and truly putting the community first.’”

Police critics will be looking closely, after one of former chief Nance’s last public appearances in that capacity was a heated forum dominated by questions over the police killing of a Black unhoused man on the Wells Avenue bridge who appeared to be having a mental health crisis in February.

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