Aurora – Police Chief Daniel Oates started his first day on the job Monday before the sun had crested over the Eastern Plains, meeting the morning shift at the 6 a.m. briefing.
Oates, 50, then went on a whirlwind tour of the city, meeting merchants, a high school principal and officers before getting briefed on arguably the most intriguing case in recent history – the disappearance of a 6-year-old girl that is now a homicide investigation.
“It’s so obvious to me there’s so much I need to learn about Aurora and the Police Department,” Oates said. “There’s a lot I’ve got to do.”
Oates was chief of the Ann Arbor, Mich., Police Department for four years. He becomes Aurora’s eighth chief.
A former New York City police executive, Oates takes over a department that has been through a tumultuous year after failing to make an arrest of convicted child rapist Brent J. Brents after he admitted to fondling a boy. Brents went on to attack several women and children before he was arrested. The events prompted Chief Ricky Bennett to resign.
Recently, Aaroné Thompson’s family is blaming police for stopping their search for the missing girl and focusing instead on suspicions that she is dead.
“The advantage of bringing in an outsider is you get a fresh perspective,” Oates said. “The disadvantage is there is a learning curve. I’ll be impatient to learn as quickly as possible. … I’m reasonably smart enough to know that I don’t want to come in and make changes.”
Oates is trying to learn as much as he can about the Aurora Police Department and the city. His tour took him from the East Colfax streets of Original Aurora to the growing suburbia around Southlands Mall.
“It’s very large, geographically,” he said. “This is a more diverse town (than Ann Arbor). The diversity issues present a lot of challenges.”
Oates has been studying résumés of the department’s chiefs, lieutenants and captains to find out their expertise. He’s trying to meet as many patrol officers as he can while introducing himself to business owners, educators, and religious and political leaders.
“It’s very important to meet people like me,” said Dumitri Palea, owner of Dumitri’s Greek restaurant. “I care about what is going on in the town, like that missing girl. … He’s the new police chief. Maybe he can do something about that.”
Oates takes on the leadership of the city’s largest department, with roughly 600 police officers and 135 civilian employees and an annual budget of $74 million.
He told a soon-to-graduate class of recruit officers of his three goals: to reduce crime and the fear of crime, to build partnerships with the community and to operate a department with integrity and efficiency.
His goodwill campaign is meant to build a positive notion about a department that has taken some hits over the past year.
“Sooner or later, bad things happen, and there will be criticism,” he told the class of 36 recruits. “That’s when you cash in that goodwill.”
Staff writer Jeremy Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
