Aurora – Sooner or later in a conversation with Dan Oates, Aurora’s future police chief will mention how much he loves police work.
“He’s been saying that for 20 years,” said John Odermatt, who worked with Oates in the New York City Police Department. “He loves being a cop. He has a true love for it.”
Oates has been wildly successful in 25 years of law enforcement, climbing to NYPD’s top echelon, heading the agency’s legal department and intelligence division, taking over a troubled Ann Arbor, Mich., Police Department and now being chosen to head Aurora’s police force.
“There’s a grand variety to it,” Oates said of police work. “I get frustrated that to be the chief, you have to be more bureaucratic than being a cop. I try to do something ‘coply’ every day – talk to cops, listen to the radio. I remind myself that it really is about the police work.”
On Nov. 28, he takes over a department that has had controversial police shootings, charges of racism, problems with the district attorney’s office and the arrest debacle over serial rapist Brent Brents.
The city’s last permanent chief, Ricky Bennett, stepped down amid turmoil.
Oates, who was selected by the Aurora City Council, “was clearly the most qualified candidate,” said City Manager Ron Miller, who recommended the chief over two other finalists that included Aurora’s interim chief, Terry Jones.
Oates, 50, is a father, husband, hockey player, lawyer, golfer and classical-music buff. His friends say he’s innovative, competitive and tireless – the type at work before everyone else, involved in everything of consequence during the day and the one to turn out the lights.
“He is in my view the perfect law enforcement officer,” said former New York Police Commissioner Howard Safir.
Being a cop wasn’t always Oates’ dream. The son of a chemist and a schoolteacher, Oates grew up in New Jersey and planned a career with words.
He was editor of the Bucknell University newspaper and its yearbook, graduated with an English degree and landed a job as a reporter for The Press of Atlantic City.
After taking a less-than-inspiring job as a magazine copy editor to be closer to his fiancée in Manhattan, Oates heard a radio ad seeking NYPD recruits.
“I thought, ‘Gee, that’s an intriguing idea,”‘ he said. Oates began his police career in 1980, working graveyard shifts in some of the city’s toughest boroughs.
He also won a scholarship to New York Law School, taking evening classes while working the midnight cop beat. He got his degree in 1986.
Oates rose quickly, becoming captain by age 37. By 40, Oates led the legal bureau. By 42, he headed the intelligence division. He retired at age 46 as executive deputy chief in Brooklyn, second in command of 3,000 officers and 700 civilians.
Oates said he retired for the chance to run his own agency.
He moved 500 miles west to Ann Arbor, a college town with a troubled Police Department facing racism allegations, budget problems and strained relations with the union. He replaced a chief who was forced to resign.
Twenty days into the job, Oates watched planes attack the World Trade Center.
“It was gut-wrenching,” he said. “I felt like I belonged back there.”
Oates became a national critic of the federal government, saying feds should have shared intelligence with local law enforcement.
The Sept. 11 commission later agreed, and changes are being made to involve local law enforcement in terrorist investigations.
Back in Ann Arbor, Oates was forced to cut millions from police and fire budgets and downsize departments. He also worked favorably with police and fire unions.
“He put resources on the right things, got the right equipment in there,” said Kerry Laycock, Ann Arbor management consultant. “It is hard to describe how bad things have been for so long. And it’s so different.”
Oates improved relations with the community, listening to public concerns about police and implementing a successful racial-profiling study.
He also had his share of controversy over the years. Civil-rights activists criticized his decision to limit public gatherings in front of New York’s City Hall.
As police chief, he was accused of raising money through traffic tickets, which he denied. And he was caught ordering an officer to use lights and sirens to get him to the airport quicker.
“Everyone is going to make mistakes,” Oates said about the airport incident. “The important thing is what you do after you make them.”
This week he will be in Colorado, meeting people and preparing for the job. He already has chosen to keep Jones as his deputy.
“You have some of the elements of urban crime in one sector of the city,” he said. “On the other end of the town, you have growth and sprawl issues that come with suburban policing.
“Aurora has a fine structure of leadership,” he said. “It sounds like there have been some difficulties of late, but the nature of policing is that every agency goes through a period of challenge. Part of the fun is dealing with those things. I’m looking forward to it.”
Staff writer Jeremy Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
