Colorado Springs Police Chief Luis Velez, whose department has been embroiled in a controversy over lost evidence in hundreds of cases, will retire later this summer, a city official announced today.
Colorado Springs City Manager Lorne C. Kramer said Velez has submitted a letter stating his desire to retire September 1, 2006.
“It is with mixed feelings that I have accepted Chief Velez’s decision to retire in September,” Kramer said in a statement. “Certainly after 31 years as a police officer he has earned the privilege of retiring. He has had a distinguished career and made several significant contributions that have made this a better, safer community to live in. I have never wavered on my choice to appoint Luis Velez as Chief. He can turn over his post with pride and honor – a job well done.”
Velez was appointed as chief of police in May 2002.
Kramer did not outline the reasons behind Velez’s decision. But his leadership has been questioned by a variety of sources following revelations that his department improperly disposed of evidence in hundreds of criminal cases, prompting a series of investigations, including a review by the Colorado attorney general’s office.
Last month, members of the city’s police union called for a no-confidence vote against Velez. Results of that vote have not been made public.
Authorities have described how evidence in more than 500 cases was improperly purged over a two-year span. They blamed an evidence supervisor for haphazardly clearing out evidence to deal with mounting storage pressures.
An internal police investigation concluded negligence, not criminal wrongdoing, was responsible.
