Safety is a primary issue for Garvey as she told The Globe:
Our police force is understaffed. We are 15 officers down. We have expanded our boundaries and we are down critical positions. Our police are required to do triage every day. Violence, safety and protection of life are primary, so other issues related to non-violent perpetrators are up to an officer’s discretion. There is no direct policy related to the arrest of non-violent individuals.
The Hope Team is a group of outreach police officers for the homeless population. They do amazing work and are great people but they do not make arrests. These officers clean up the junk and trash on public property. Sparks leadership has turned out police into social workers and trash collectors and I think that this has an impact on morale.
Sparks used to be a city where Reno police and first responders would live with their families. Sparks has always been a little sister to Reno because it was safe and affordable. This is not the case and we are about to lose it if we don’t make changes and prepare for the future.
Being on the school board and knowing how much effort it takes to recruit teachers. We need to make safety a priority and a recruitment campaign for police has to be a priority. Building vertical and development is currently a priority. Positions are in the budget and need to be fully staffed. We need to make sure we enforcing ordinances so our quality of life, our businesses and tourism and our revenue improves.
According to Garvey, preparing for the future requires vision, accountability, transparency and leadership in a city that has been overrun by developers building expensive high rises and single family homes.
LEARN MORE: https://www.thenevadaglobe.com/articles/the-globe-interviews-sparks-mayoral-candidate-chris-garvey/
