AURORA | The city named three finalists for the manager of the newly created Office of Public Safety Accountability with plans to host a community meet and greet with the candidates on Monday.
John Hummel, Shenandoah Titus and Eric Williams are the finalists to lead the independent division that will monitor the city’s police, fire, detention and 911 departments. The finalists are set for another round of interviews with city staff and elected officials, as well as the community meet and greet.
A meet and greet is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. Nov. 16 at the large community room at the Aurora Central Library, 14949 E. Alameda Parkway. Members of the public can also submit questions online at EngageAurora.org/AccountabilityManager by noon Nov. 15 to be considered for the candidate interview process.
The recorded interviews will be available on the same website on Monday before the meet and greet. Candidate biographies are also online for review.
Hummel is an attorney with Franklin D. Azar & Associates in Denver who has practiced in Colorado since 2023 and previously served as the elected district attorney for Deschutes County in Bend, Oregon. Hummel received his law degree from the University of Arkansas and has a Master’s degree in international public policy from Johns Hopkins University and Bachelor’s degrees in political science and criminal justice from Roanoke College.
Hummel’s bio says he started his career representing migrant farm workers from Mexico and unemployed loggers in rural Oregon. As district attorney, he “personally handled officer involved use-of-force investigations and criminal allegations against peace officers.”
Titus is the founder and chief counsel of Police Oversight USA, a national consulting office on public safety oversight and accountability. Titus has served as human rights director for Amherst and Somerville in Massachusetts and as the director of police and community partnerships for the Boston transit police.
Titus received his law degree from Western New England University and he has several other degrees, including a Bachelor’s and Masters of Professional Studies from Cornell University. Titus’ bio says he has “over two decades of experience in investigations and oversight leadership at the municipal, state and federal level.”
Williams is the deputy vice president of investigations for the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a Denver-based nonprofit that works to reduce sexual abuse of youth athletes in Olympic Sports. He previously worked as deputy director of Denver’s Department of Public Safety and for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where his bio says he conducted civil rights and public corruption investigations.
Williams is an attorney and U.S. Navy veteran. He received his law degree from the University of Colorado, as well as Bachelor’s degrees in criminology and political science from Metropolitan State University of Denver.
The manager of the Office of Public Safety Accountability will be a civilian oversight role that will monitor and review complaint investigations, critical incidents, public safety policies and systemic trends involving public safety personnel. The office will take over oversight from the city’s contracted consent decree monitor, IntegrAssure.
The accountability manager position is a civilian role, whose duties will be to “monitor and review complaint investigations, critical incidents, public safety policies and systemic trends involving sworn public safety personnel,” according to the city.
The salary range is $130,000-$160,000, according to city officials.
City Manager Jason Batchelor will choose and appoint the new manager, and that person will report administratively to the city manager’s office, while providing information to the city council’s public safety committee.
Aurora was put under a consent decree by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser in 2021, which mandated numerous public safety reforms regarding biased policing, excessive use of force and transparency concerns. The consent decree was the result of a state investigation into the city’s public safety departments following the 2019 death of Elijah McClain.
The most recent consent decree monitoring report found that the city is in substantial compliance with a majority of the mandates and on track to complete the recommendations in spring 2027.