By Elise Schmelzer
The Denver Post
AURORA, Colo. — The Aurora city manager fired the city’s police chief Wednesday, saying that areas of the department needed “refocused attention.”
The decision follows weeks of speculation as to the future of Chief Vanessa Wilson, who took the top post in 2020. Some City Council members and leaders of the police unions have criticized Wilson’s leadership and said she did not have the confidence of the force.
“It is clear that Chief Wilson has prioritized community involvement,” Twombly said in a news release. “However, the police chief also needs to effectively manage the operations of the department, effectively engage with staff, build morale and validate employee feedback. To provide the level of public safety that our community deserves, a change in leadership must occur.”
Wilson’s attorney did not immediately return a call for comment.
Division Chief Chris Juul will take over operations at the police department while the city management teams names an interim chief. The city will also start a nationwide search for a permanent chief.
Twombly will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. Wednesday to discuss his decision.
The city manager has been contemplating Wilson’s future for several months, Councilmember Dustin Zvonek said Wednesday. Zvonek, who was elected in November, said he’s talked to many police officers and said there was “broken morale” in the department and lack of confidence in leadership.
“We don’t need just a community outreach officer as chief of police,” he said. “We need someone to lead the department. In that, she was not fit for the job, she was not up for the job.”
Wilson took over the leadership of the department as it careened through a series of high-profile controversies under former Chief Nick Metz’s administration. She pledged to restore community trust in the department.
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Twombly appointed Wilson as interim chief in January 2020 after Metz’s retirement. He then appointed her permanent chief in August 2020 after she beat out three other candidates for the job. She had been with the department since 1996 and was the department’s first female chief.
Nine of the 10 City Council members at the time voted to approve the hire, as did Mayor Mike Coffman.
During her tenure, Wilson publicly fired a number of police officers for wrongdoing. The firings and reform efforts — some mandated by a court-monitored consent decree — have led to discontent within the department. A poll of 458 members of the two unions that represent the rank-and-file found that 442 of those polled had no confidence in Wilson’s leadership. Sixteen said they did.
The Aurora Police Department is budgeted to employ up to 744 officers. It currently employs 709 officers, department spokesman Matthew Longshore said Tuesday. Of those 709, 35 are in field training and 19 are recruits at the academy.
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