CAPTAIN MICHELLE TAVAREZ

Michelle Tavarez is a Captain with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, where she has served for 20 years.  She is the commander of Spring Valley Area Command where she has roughly 200 officers and civilian staff under her direction. 

Prior to her promotion to Captain, Michelle was the Administrative Lieutenant in LVMPD’s newest station, Summerlin Area Command.  She was responsible for overseeing the patrol detectives, the FLEX team (a plainclothes unit that specializes in confidential informant buys, search warrant service, and surveillance operations), the Community Oriented Policing team, the Summerlin Enforcement Team, and the Area Command Information Officers.  Michelle also worked in an auxiliary position as the team leader for LVMPD’s Crisis Negotiation Team. 

Michelle was a founding member of the leadership team responsible for opening Summerlin Area Command.  As the day shift Lieutenant, she oversaw the shift through a difficult year of civil unrest, COVID-19, and an unprecedented economic downturn.  Prior to the opening of Summerlin Area Command, Michelle was assigned as the day shift Lieutenant in LVMPD’s Southeast Area Command.  Here she helped lead a long-term project that turned one of the city’s highest crime complexes into crime free multi-housing. 

Prior to her promotion to Lieutenant, Michelle was a Training and Counseling Sergeant in LVMPD’s police academy at a time when the agency was experiencing a year and a half 600-officer hiring push.  Preceding her time at the Academy, Michelle revitalized the recruiting section and was responsible for rebuilding the section.

Michelle also served as a Crisis Negotiator for six and a half years with LVMPD’s Crisis Negotiation Team.  She has responded to over 150 dynamic incidents of suicidal subjects, barricaded individuals, and hostage takers all around southern Nevada. 

Michelle has a bachelor’s degree from Liberty University majoring in Criminal Justice and graduating Summa Cum Laude.  Both of her parents retired from LVMPD; her father as a Police Captain in 2015 and her mother as an Abuse and Neglect Specialist in 2018. She is most proud of the family that she’s built with her wife of nine years, a fire Captain with the Clark County Fire Department.  Together they have four young children who range in ages from three to eight years old.

Capt. Tavarez joins Calibre Press to instruct Women in Command©, Female Enforcers©, and Emotional Survival for the Female Enforcer©.