Colorado Springs – Colorado Springs Police Chief Luis Velez, under fire after evidence in more than 500 cases was improperly lost, told his boss Tuesday that he would retire Sept. 1.
Velez, 56, who started as a patrolman on April 1, 1975, and became chief in 2002, said that he had become a “lightning rod” for criticism of the 688-officer department. He said Tuesday that he was not pressured to retire.
“It’s something that in the recent past, I’ve thought about it a lot more. The decision was difficult; it’s still difficult,” Velez said. “I think it’s the right time for me, and I think it’s the right time for the organization as well. Certainly, a number of personal issues as well as professional issues all bore on me making this decision.”
Department officials said the evidence was lost by a supervisor haphazardly clearing out evidence. An internal investigation, a district attorney’s investigation and a review by the state attorney general are underway, although the department maintains that negligence, not criminal wrongdoing, was the culprit.
Velez said that as chief, he ultimately is responsible for the lost evidence.
“I’m the chief. The old story, ‘The buck stops here,’ that’s true,” he said. “It happened on my watch. As much as I said earlier that it was a shock when we found out about it, the good thing was that it’s fixable.”
The evidence failures, Velez’s attempt to change civil-service rules and the transfer of Lt. Brian Grady from the homicide unit to a graveyard shift at a substation prompted a no-confidence vote by the 655-member Colorado Springs Police Protective Association. But the association did not say how members voted.
Rochelle Terrell, executive director of the PPA, said it would be up to the association’s board whether to air the results of the vote.
“It’s probably the right thing,” Terrell said of the chief’s departure.
Velez said the vote by the PPA was nonbinding and would not have influenced any of the decisions he made.
Over his career, Velez was instrumental in creating the department’s gang intervention program. He also served as director of security for the World Police & Fire Games in 1993 and the U.S. Olympic Festival in 1995. Velez was recognized for his leadership in commanding all department personnel in January 2001 during the successful capture of the remaining two “Texas Seven” fugitives in Colorado Springs.
Velez, who stated publicly three weeks ago that he would not step down, said his perspective changed after his mother, Irma Velez, 82, died in New Jersey on June 24.
“For everything that I thought was pretty bad up to that point in time, that got bad off of the Richter scale,” Velez said.
Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera said Velez’s retirement will be “a loss to the city and a loss to the department.”
“Chief Velez was a role model for Hispanic youth and to the department in general,” he said.
Velez said his immediate plans are to sleep in on Sept. 2 and then perhaps pursue a job in the management field.
Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com.
