At its March 22, 2017 Regular Meeting, the Reno City Council will consider adoption of a Welcoming City Resolution. At the direction of Council, staff has prepared a report and draft Resolution. The Resolution is an expression of the Council’s values as a body.

“The Resolution would confirm the City of Reno’s intent to be a community where all of our residents feel welcomed, safe and able to fully participate in our economic and social life,” Reno City Councilmember Oscar Delgado said.

Delgado and At-Large Reno City Councilmember David Bobzien requested that staff work on the Resolution, direction to the City Manager that Council as a whole approved on March 8, 2017.

“The Resolution reflects a broad range of City initiatives and departments, including the Reno Police Department (RPD),” Acting City Manager Bill Thomas said. “As a leader in Community Policing, RPD continues to build solid relationships between immigrant communities and law enforcement.”

“Those community relationships are the foundation for a safer and stronger community,” Reno Police Chief Jason Soto said. “Reno is better when everyone feels safe reporting crimes to our department, which operates under a policy of treating people in a professional and courteous manner regardless of their citizenship.”

RPD serves a community of more than 250,000 people with a police force of 323 officers. RPD adopted policies more than 10 years ago that support impartial policing and prohibit bias-based policing.

“Our officers will not contact or stop a person solely on suspicion,” Soto said.

RPD’s policies prohibit its officers from considering race, color, religion, age, national origin, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, economic status and/or citizenship when making law enforcement decisions.

“We have no interest in investigating the law-abiding members of our community, but we also have no tolerance for those who are involved in violence,” Soto added.