AURORA | A short list of finalists for Aurora’s next police chief include two former local top cops who’ve moved away, and top police administrators from Seattle and San Antonio.
The finalists are scheduled for a public greeting event with Aurora residents Dec. 12 at the Aurora Municipal Center. City staff is expected to interview finalists this week.
In a statement announcing the finalists, city officials said Bob Murray and Associates, the search firm hired in May to find a new chief, had chosen the four contenders from a pool of 35 candidates.
The finalists are: Commerce City Deputy Chief Fran Gomez; Peoria, Ariz. Chief Roy Minter; Seattle Assistant Chief Nicholas Metz; and San Antonio, Texas, Assistant Chief Jose Bañales. Gomez and Minter are former high-ranking Aurora police commanders and longtime veterans of the police department.
Regan Williams of Bob Murray and Associates said that after the interviews and meetings with the community, the firm will likely narrow the list to one or two candidates within a few days.
Kim Stuart, a spokeswoman for the city of Aurora, said there isn’t a deadline for city council to vote on a new chief, but city officials hope to have a decision soon.
Former Chief Dan Oates left in May to take the helm of the police department in Miami Beach, Fla. Longtime Aurora police Deputy Chief Terry Jones has been serving as chief since on an interim basis since.
The Aurora Police Association, which is the Aurora police officers’ union, will participate in the interviews this week, said Officer Mark Finnin, the APA president.
The union has said throughout the process that they would prefer a chief who has worked their way through the ranks, especially someone who has connections to Aurora police.
“They understand the frustrations of the patrol officer, the detectives or the front line supervisors, so when we bring up concerns they can relate to it because they have been there,” Finnin said.
The union has also said they prefer a candidate with ties to APD as opposed to an outsider.
Finnin said an APD veteran would likely have a smoother transition that someone from outside.
“The concern with having somebody from the outside is turning everything upside down again so they can put their mark on the department,” he said.
When Oates took over, he clashed regularly with the APA over a variety of changes, including tweaks to the uniform and how the department replaced equipment.
According to the statement announcing the finalists, Bañales has been with San Antonio PD since 1983 and has held all ranks within the department.
Gomez worked for APD for 23 years before taking a job in Commerce City last year. She started as a patrol officer and worked her way up to commander of the department’s massive District No. 3, which includes all of Aurora south of east Jewell Avenue and east of Interstate 225. She was the first woman to hold the rank.
Metz has been with the Seattle PD since 1983 and also advanced through the department’s ranks before becoming assistant chief.
Minter has been chief in Peoria since 2011. He worked for Aurora police for 15 years before taking a job in 2007 as chief of police in Denton, Texas and then moved on to Peoria, Arizona.
Citizens, allow me to educate you on the finalists since Skip Noe (City Manager) and Council appear to be pulling the wool over the eyes of the sheep, once again.
Fran Gomez (a retired retread): When last we saw her, she retired from APD at the rank of Commander. I heard two key things about the Commerce City position. 1. It’s current Chief Troy Smith is a long time buddy of Fran’s. 2. Commerce City didn’t have a Deputy Chief position, until Troy hired her. The position between Commander and Deputy Chief is, Division Chief. How then, would she have the credentials to qualify as a Chief? She simply hasn’t done the time to be a top cop at any agency as far as I can tell.
Does anyone remember when the news broke that DNA evidence in 455 cases was accidentally destroyed at APD? Well, it turns out that the Deputy (now Interim) Chief Terry Jones and Commerce City Deputy Chief Fran Gomez sat together on an independent review panel that wrote the final report on that debacle. Does that seem odd to anyone else?
I say no on Fran. Mic drop. Next!
Roy Minter (another retread): Yes, he went on to Denton, TX and now Peoria, AZ., and became a Chief. Big deal. Denton has approx. 113,000 and Peoria has approx. 145,000 citizens. In comparison to the size of Aurora, Minter worked at Mayberry.
When last we saw him, he wasn’t well liked, I hear. Water cooler news has it that, sometime during Minter’s career in Aurora, he ran the police academy. At that time, retired cops did the background checks on applicants for Aurora. One applicant, LaFrance, was found to be a hands on guy with the ladies. This information was given to Minter and he hired him in spite of the heads up. Later, LaFrance becomes an SRO (School Resource Officer) and sure enough, gets fired from APD for being the kind of guy Minter was pre-warned against hiring.
If he didn’t listen to advice when he was running the academy, why would he listen as a chief?
I say no on Roy. Mic drop. Next!
Jose Banales (outsider): Marsha Todd (VP of the citizens alumni) better hold onto her Bobby Johnson socks if they hire this one! This guy “fired” the head of his “Volunteers In Policing” program coordinator, according to a local rag. In the world of A-Town, that would be like saying you got the boot. The woman gave 14 years of free service to his agency. What did she do? She apparently supported his officer’s in a quest to have the city manager (like Skip Noe) fired, and circulated an “Anti-Sculley” petition.
A little advice to ole Marsha from me. You can teleprompter, you can telephone or, you can tell-a-cop.
Fear the Banales baby! 😉
I say no way Jose. Mic drop. Next!
Nicholas Metz (outsider): Here’s an unusual choice indeed. My search turned up a demotion on him from Assistant Police Chief down to a Captain. Sound familiar? So, Bob Murray and Associates put Metz in the top five (let us not forget the fifth dropped out without giving the why), and wouldn’t consider APD’s (insider) Commander Ken Murphy? According to The Seattle Times story, they reported that the DOJ found Metz’ agency to have a pattern of excessive force and biased enforcement being carried out by officer’s. Guess what took Murphy down? He refused to lie!
Murphy held the position of Division Chief for 11 years. Now there’s a guy who understands the frustrations of the patrol officer, the detectives or the front line supervisors, so when you bring up concerns he can relate to it because he’s been there, Officer Mark Finnen!
As for Skip Noe and Council. Have any of you met with Commander Murphy to get the Paul Harvey from him? I bet you haven’t.
Noe/Council, you assume the public is “too stupid” to do it’s own research. Think again ya big bunch of Grubers!
https://giphy.com/gifs/youtuber-out-sourcefed-KL7I5MXrcvezC
Ashley, cool, stay with it!
Fed up,
Now the DP has weighed in (Denver and the West). Here is what I said over there:Ashley In Aurora • 20 minutes ago
Does anybody find it interesting that up until now, council has been so quiet about the process of finding the next chief, you could hear a rat pee on cotton?
Suddenly, up crops the two people I’d like to question the most. Hogan and Cleland! If you want to know who is leading council around by the nose, all you have to do is go on the Aurora gov site, and locate council’s study session last Monday eve. Watch Cleland give it to another council member and then watch Hogan back her up.
Of special interest: Hogan and Cleland used to be married. They both served on council then, and both serve now. Who are the two that commented for the reporter in this story? You got it!
Rumor has it that Gomez was contacted by council and was asked to apply for the position. I’m inclined to believe it because she retired from Aurora and was one of their favorites when Oates was here. Hogan and Cleland are the best of buds with Charlie Richardson (former long time city attorney for Aurora) who retired one month and was hired back as an adviser to Hogan, one month later. If anyone is creating a pattern or trend here, it’s Hogan and Cleland and or council itself.
It’s my opinion now, that this entire process was a set up from out of the gate with the intention of picking impeachable candidates in order to glorify the one they wanted all along. Fran Gomez.
Is Skip Noe being thrown under the bus by Hogan and Cleland or, is he just willing to be the fall guy who will suffer no repercussions? I’m just speculating on all this but, something is fishy about this entire deal to my way of thinking.
Poke around on the Aurora Sentinel and you’ll see I called each candidate out last night so it would hit citizens ears before tonight’s meet and greet. Is the appearance of this article today in the DP a coincidence? I doubt it.
Apparently, AIA is the only one with an opinion on this? She’s a persistent malcontent in all A.S. comments.
If you knew what I know, you’d be sure to call this stuff out too. I fail to see where I’m rebellious or a troublemaker because I keep the citizens informed by doing the research and letting them know what I find.
Am I persistent in my quest for the truth? You betcha I am! I’m going to keep it up.
Really? You are not the only person with their finger on the pulse. Some of your views are hostile and distorted. I wonder why that is?
I just report what I hear or find.
So, you “report” heresay as fact? Most interesting.
My sources are very reliable.
Yeah, the truth does have a way of being annoying, doesn’t it? The information you receive is second hand for the most part and you share the same disgruntled points of view. I am not trying to discredit your information, just question what you claim as fact and separate that from your emotional involvement. It appears that “Fed up” may have done his homework? You Ashley, have not.
Fran or Metz please.
I heard Banales impressed tonight.
fran please
Please read my Facebook “Mark Fairall” about Peoria Police Chief Roy Minter Jr. He is a disaster.