AURORA | Aurora got a new top cop in 2015, but Chief Nick Metz’s first few weeks on the job were hardly the soft landing new hires envision.
Just five days into his tenure as the chief of police, a member of the SWAT team shot and killed an unarmed black man during an arrest. The shooting of Naeschylus Vinzant sparked protests and outcry that mirrored similar flare-ups between minority groups and police across the country.
A Jefferson County grand jury opted not to indict the officer in the shooting after months of looking at the case. Metz said in the days after the shooting he is working hard to balance the public’s howls for details with the need to get the investigation right. He said he also recognized that he only gets one chance to handle the shooting, so he has to make sure everything is done correctly.
“If you don’t do it right the first time, you can really muck things up,” he said in an interview at his sparsely decorated office back in March.
Metz issued a joint press release with Vinzant’s family announcing the grand jury taking the case.
While that case hung over the department for most of the year, Metz set about launching some reforms that he says will make the department run more smoothly and help build trust with the community.
In October, City Council approved Metz’s plan to add a high-ranking officer to oversee the Internal Affairs section.
Council members unanimously approved the measure, which brought the number of commanders in the department — the third-highest rank in APD — from four to five. Three commanders are currently tasked with overseeing the department’s three districts, and a fourth oversees investigations.
The move had the support of the Aurora Police Association, the department’s largest union, and Metz said it will make internal investigations more efficient and build trust with the community.
Before coming to Aurora, Metz spent more than 30 years with Seattle police and climbed the ranks from officer all the way to an assistant chief. But, Metz said when he took over APD, he recognizes that Aurora is a different place, the APD is a different police department and the agency’s culture is different from any other. Given that, he stressed that he isn’t looking to turn this department into a Rocky Mountain version of Seattle PD.
“What worked there may not work in Aurora, or for that matter, Aurora may have something in place that may work even better,” he said.
Metz said that while he may bring some ideas from Seattle to Aurora, his plan is to look at ideas from Aurora, Seattle and anywhere in between.
“I want to look at what other agencies around the country are doing. I want to hear other innovative ideas,” he said.
Cops can kill on speculation and not facts now,he thought the suspect was going to pull out a gun,and why is it blacks always in the news for getting killed unarmed,I have yet to see a cop kill an unarmed white person,not saying I want that to happen, but everyday it seems like an unarmed black person get killed by a cop.
I think Chief Metz is proving he knows what he is doing. Denver needed a Chief to come in who was rough and willing to turn the department end up. Aurora needed a Chief to come in and quietly sort through the cronyism of Chief Oates promoting style and demote the unworthy. Metz plays his cards close to the vest, as he should. In 2016, you probably aren’t done relocating a few that are still holding upper command positions into the lower ranks, I’d bet. I’m expecting a few more unexpected moves from you this year since speculating about what you will and won’t do in the future, would be a waste of time, right?
This would be the right time to focus and observe the more quiet, diligent, workers who have held others accountable for poor conduct, dishonesty and poor work ethic. Those steady as she goes types who don’t spend their shift trying to get you to “look at me Chief and all I do” but, instead get the job done. This is the stability you’ll need to surround yourself with to rebuild the department into a more unified team instead of the promoted snitch brigade of yes men that Oates rewarded so handsomely it seemed.
Down the food chain, you’ll find some brilliant minds if you encourage the thinkers and doers to bring their thoughts, ideas and opinions to the forefront.
Keep searching for the best and don’t settle for anything less.