Critics of a controversial police traffic stop have moved from online message boards to Wikipedia.
A reader today sent us a link to Aurora police Chief Dan Oates’s Wiki page, which now includes some edits critical of Oates.
The edits are a series of criticisms of the department’s controversial decision last month to stop several cars and detain 40 innocent people during a search for a bank robber.
The real zinger comes at the end of a section detailing Oates’ education, including his law degree.
“It is amazing that someone with a background in practicing law could have been involved in the Aurora, Colorado incident,” the page says.
The online encyclopedia lets just about anybody edit any page, and someone clearly opted to take advantage of that freedom on Oates’ page. The edits aren’t as inflammatory as some Wiki edits can be, but this is the first time we can remember a local official having some not-so-friendly changes made to their page.
Former Mayor Ed Tauer’s page includes a nod to his fondness for the word “neat,” but that’s about it.
I called a department spokesman about the page this afternoon to see if they had any comment, but haven’t heard back yet.