AURORA | City Manager Skip Now has chosen Seattle Assistant Chief Nick Metz to be the next Aurora police chief.
“I believe that Nick Metz is the right person with the right skills to lead the Aurora Police Department. His extensive experience leading a large organization, serving a complex and diverse community, makes him a unique fit for the Aurora of today and the future,” Noe said in a statement Thursday.
Mayor Steve Hogan said this week that the city council will likely vote on Noe’s choice at a council meeting in early February.
According to the statement announcing Metz’s hiring, he will be the department’s first black police chief. In Seattle, where he has worked for more than 30 years, Metz manages more than 700 employees and a budget more than $100 million. Metz has a bachelor’s degree in general studies from City University in Seattle and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, the FBI National Executive Institute, and the Senior Management Institute for Police hosted by the Police Executive Research Forum.
“To say this opportunity is a dream come true would be an understatement. I am excited to work alongside the women and men of this nationally recognized agency as we work together to enhance public safety and continue to build upon the already strong partnerships with Aurora’s diverse communities. I thank Mr. Noe and his team for their confidence, and will work hard to maintain it,” Metz said in a statement.
His annual salary will be $163,500 plus benefits.
City officials launched a nationwide search for a new chief in May after Dan Oates left to become chief in Miami Beach, Florida. In December, with the help of a search firm hired to help find a new chief, city officials narrowed the field from 34 candidates four: Metz, longtime Aurora police commander and Commerce City Deputy Chief Fran Gomez; San Antonio Assistant Chief Jose Bañales and Peoria, Arizona. Chief Roy Minter, another longtime APD veteran.
Minter pulled his name from the running last week.
In Seattle, Metz worked his way from a patrol officer all the way to assistant chief, the department’s No. 2 spot.
Last year, Detective Ron Smith, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, said that even as a high-ranking police official, Metz remained close with the officers working the street.
Still, last November, a Seattle PD sergeant filed a lawsuit against the city accusing Metz of giving preferential treatment to four officers who he is close friends with.
Metz was also briefly demoted last year from assistant chief down to captain during an apparent feud with a former interim chief.
Metz was eventually promoted back to assistant chief but was passed over for the department’s top job in early 2014. He also applied for the chief’s job in Bellevue, Washington, but was passed over after city officials there opted not to choose any of the selected finalists and restart their search last year.
In 2006, Metz, who grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was also a finalists for the police chief job in his hometown.
Congratulations APD Chief Nicholas Metz!
Chief Metz,
There are more people than you know who are excited you “got the call saying you’re the guy”. Not because you’re African-American. We were much more interested in your credentials and ambition.
What you have to look forward to upon your arrival: An agency loaded with well trained, good people, who are starving for a trusted leader and hopeful for new opportunities to show you their chops.
As someone who has spent a great deal of time in an observatory position, it’s been disheartening to watch officer’s lose their passion for policing and for one another under the leadership of Chief Dan Oates.
In my opinion, Oates created 3 class’ of officers. The elite, the popular, and everyone else. I hope you are the kind who closely inspects the dedication and hard work of the “everyone else” group. It’s in that group, that I believe, a chief will locate and assemble a reliable and brilliant team of expert LEO’s.
Congratulations on having finally achieved the pinnacle of success in law enforcement. You’ll now have the ability to mold, shape, and direct an agency where you are at the helm calling the shots.
Godspeed.