Call the cops. A lot of them. It’s time to find a new police chief for Aurora.
After almost nine years as Aurora’s top cop, Chief Dan Oates is moving his life and badge to Miami Beach, Florida.
I have never been shy with my generous criticism of dumb stuff Oates has done before and after he took the job here in Aurora. I’ve just as heartily stood behind Oates when he courageously worked to improve the police department and increase public safety.
Equally, the chief has never been reticent about his disdain for me. Oates is not a shy guy. My respect and exasperation for the chief started before he got the job back in 2005. When Aurora officials named him as a finalist, easy reporting turned up a story about him getting busted for having a fellow cop in Ann Arbor, Michigan — where he was then police chief — take him to the airport in a police car with emergency lights on because he was late. When we asked him about the incident, he brushed it aside as no big deal.
I learned then that New Yorker Dan Oates had plenty of bravado and little humility, a flaw for any leader. Humility breeds trust and credibility. Arrogance? Contempt and skepticism.
Oates is an expert in bravado. His NYC swagger played well here for a lot of people, including the Aurora city council that hired him. They were, however, smitten with the car salesman and didn’t pay attention to the model they were buying. What we got was a chief that played well on TV. As the face of the Aurora Police department, he was passionate, smart, confident and credible. During tragedies affecting rank and file, residents and especially after the Aurora theater massacre, Oates embodied everything we want in police. His public performance over the past several years have helped Aurora grow into its newfound image of being a thing here in Colorado. Oates was adamant that he be able to fire lousy cops despite the police union, and we stood behind him in his quest.
Where we disagreed, a lot, was on the level of accountability and transparency a large police department like Aurora’s should be subjected to. Time and again, we insisted on some kind of civilian police oversight mechanism, and investigations of alleged police malfeasance that were open to public scrutiny.
Oates not only balked, he fought back. I got a up-close taste of his bravado not too long after he arrived here. Public sentiments about a racially intolerant police department were causing trouble. Oates launched a series of community forums and precluded the media. We objected and determined the meetings would actually be illegal had some city council members attended. We wanted into the meetings to tell the public what was happening at a critical time, and Oates wanted us out. He lost. During the first forum, he rounded up reporters in advance to scold them and especially the Aurora Sentinel. The whole incident resulted in my being “invited” to discuss the issue at police headquarters.
I had no qualms I was being hauled into the chief’s office for a good NYC thrashing. I had no idea. It was an ambush. It was me, the chief and four cops assigned to media relations.
In my almost 30 years as a journalist, I’ve been verbally accosted by a long list of unhappy political types. It comes with the job. I’ve been dressed down by governors, mayors, congressmen, district attorneys and a virtual army of their flacks. I’ve had to wear chagrin all over my face like cold spaghetti sauce when I was dead wrong, and I’ve clenched my jaw and held my gaze when I was dead on.
I have never, ever been through anything like I had that day in 2007. Each of the chief’s “team” took turns lobbing a barrage of verbal assaults, each time, looking immediately at the chief for his response. It wasn’t weird, it was downright creepy. Each verbal punch the chief threw was met with atta-boys from hungry sycophants. It had nothing to do with arguing the merits of our coverage and everything to do with making sure I left knowing what was in store the next time we dared to push Oates into a corner.
I wasn’t angry about what had happened, I was embarrassed for him and his team. It was something out of a hackneyed TV cops show. The incident only confirmed what some of his top-level staff and rank and file complained about through a steady stream of secret faxes, emails and phone calls to the newsroom: cross this guy and regret it.
As fate would have it, Oates made me wonder about what it was like to work at the Aurora PD, but I never wondered about whether our push for accountability and transparency in the police department was a worthy cause. This police department is brimming with some of the best cops in the country. I know that, because I have watched them from inside and outside the department for almost 20 years. I listen to them on the scanner having to bail our sorry asses out of a never-ending list of predicaments. I’ve seen their intense compassion and drive to help people.
Despite my criticism, I believe Oates also embodies those same qualities that make good law enforcers great ones. He is a great cop. But a leader? That demands humility.
No doubt that as Aurora looks for its next chief, they’ll get a long-list of great cops looking to take the job. What will set apart just a few, however, is the cop that can hit the target with the bravado it takes to risk their own lives to save people for a living, and the humility to be cool when they have to admit they missed.
Reach editor Dave Perry at 303-750-7555 or dperry@aurorasentinel.com
Your little team meeting with Chief Oates and his people, is something many have encountered during his reign.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall at his going away party.
When they want a big turnout, they hold it in the cafeteria and then offer free food. 😉
How about a police chief that respects the rights of the citizens they work for? Former officers of the departments of New York, Detroit, Chicago etc should not be considered.