West Valley City police chief announces he's retiring

West Valley City police chief Lee Russo announced Friday afternoon that he is retiring from his position next week.

Russo became the top cop in Utah’s second-largest city four years ago. He took over a troubled police department rife with controversy involving its Neighborhood Narcotics Unit, including the fatal 2013 shooting of an unarmed woman by two police detectives. 

In a statement released Friday, Russo said that during his time as chief, the police department has been set on course ”not only to be better than it has been in the past, but to be one of the very best police agencies in the nation.”

Russo said his department has led the way in addressing sexual assault kit backlogs and has developed victim-centered police protocols. Monthly community meetings have increased transparency, the chief said, as has the purchase of body cameras for officers.

The chief said his last day will be next Friday. 

“The city manager and I always understood that, as much as I have grown to love this city and its people, West Valley City would not be my permanent home,” Russo wrote. ”I have three children across this country and my wife and I always hoped to find the opportunity to have better access to them. Now that our city leaders and I have accomplished our goals for this police department, I feel confident that the time is right to go out and find that new opportunity.”

City officials said in a statement Friday that the search for a new police chief will begin immediately. For now, Deputy Chief Colleen Nolen will be the interim chief.

Before coming to Utah in 2013, Russo was a police chief in Covington, Ky. from 2007 to 2012. Previous to that, he worked for more than two decades at the Baltimore County Police Department in Maryland.

He took over as West Valley City’s chief after former chief Thayle ”Buzz” Nielsen retired in 2013 for medical reasons.

It was during Nielsen’s watch that the police department was criticized for the fatal shooting of Danielle Willard in November 2012, as well as the alleged mishandling of evidence that led to the dismissal of 125 cases.

Prosecutors filed manslaughter charges against one detective after Willard was shot, but a judge dismissed the case after finding there was not probable cause for the case to move forward.