Gov. Bill Ritter withdrew an offer to his pick for state emergency management director Monday after questions were raised about the prospective director’s background.
The governor “decided to go in another direction” after his staff saw a copy of a police report from a domestic-violence call to Chris Olson’s home and were asked about management problems when Olson headed the Englewood police and fire departments.
The decision was made hours after a Denver Post reporter provided Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer with a copy of the police report while trying to arrange an interview with Olson.
Dreyer declined to say why the job offer was rescinded, calling it a “confidential personnel matter.” He also refused to say whether the governor’s office did a background check before announcing Olson’s hiring earlier this month.
Olson did not return calls for comment.
As director of safety services for Englewood, Olson received a no-confidence vote from police in 2005 over alleged safety problems. He also was responsible for events that led to a $354,300 sexual discrimination settlement paid to a female officer.
In November 2005, Denver police responded to a domestic-violence call from Olson’s home after a woman complained he had been drinking and was coming at her “as though he was going to hit her.”
Olson left the house and was not charged with a crime, according to a police report. The report said Olson did not strike the woman.
Ritter picked Olson earlier this month to lead the emergency management division, which coordinates recovery after floods, tornadoes, wildfire and terrorist attacks. Olson, who has already resigned from Englewood, was supposed to start July 30.
“We are evaluating our options and will move as quickly as possible to fill the position,” Dreyer said Monday.
Englewood’s police union said it had no confidence in Olson’s leadership 2 1/2 years ago, claiming he failed to address problems that “led to dangerous situations for both police personnel and for the citizens.”
Olson did not allay shortfalls in radio communication and had too few beat cops patrolling the streets, an attorney for the Englewood Police Benefit Association told the City Council in 2005. The union called the radio system “inferior” and “downright dangerous” because communication was garbled and inaudible in certain parts of the city.
“It is only a matter of time before someone will suffer injury or death as a result of this inadequate communication system,” attorney David Bruno told the council, according to minutes of the meeting. “Until recently, director Olson did little to remedy these problems. His response has been only empty promises.”
But the current president of the Englewood police union, Brian Taylor, said last week that Olson “did everything to make it right” after the no-confidence vote. Taylor scorned people who “are trying to slander his name and talk trash.”
“As far as the current union is concerned, he’s done a great job and we have nothing but the highest regard for him and what he’s done,” Taylor said.
And Englewood City Councilman Bob McCaslin, one of Olson’s toughest critics two years ago, said Olson won his respect.
“Longtime guys on the police force have great respect for him,” McCaslin said. “When it came down to things in Englewood, he was always there in tough situations. I’ve got to respect that.”
McCaslin said the city was financially strapped when the police union complained about safety issues and salaries.
His initial disappointment in Olson’s leadership stemmed in part from a $354,300 payment by Englewood to settle a sexual discrimination claim.
The state Division of Civil Rights determined in April 2005 that Olson’s firing of a female police officer likely was discriminatory. Diedre Scott took the case to federal court, forcing a settlement.
Scott said in her lawsuit that she was fired after having a panic attack on the job triggered by post-traumatic stress. She had been on the scene after a fellow officer was shot in the chest and then, two months later, when another officer nearly died in a motorcycle crash while chasing a suspect.
Weeks later, Scott refused to respond to a call because she was “sobbing hysterically” in her patrol car, her lawsuit said. She was fired for refusing to respond and for allegedly assaulting her former husband and fellow Englewood police officer years earlier while she was on duty.
Meanwhile, several male police officers under Olson were only lightly punished for serious offenses.
A detective was suspended for two days for having sex with the sister of a homicide victim, according to Scott’s lawsuit.
Another officer got a one- day suspension for running an illegal online gambling website on his city computer.
A third officer was suspended for two days for printing pornographic stories at work.
The discipline problems “depict an environment in which certain officers appear immune from termination,” wrote Wendell Pryor, director of the Colorado Civil Rights Division.
The council approved the $354,300 settlement in January 2006. City officials said Scott’s firing was just, but they figured it would cost much more than the city’s $150,000 insurance deductible to battle the case in court, McCaslin said.
Olson worked for Englewood for more than 30 years as a firefighter, paramedic and department manager. He had been Englewood’s director of safety services since 1997 and is a former president of the Denver Civil Service Commission.
Olson signed an 11-month contract with Ritter’s office July 2, accepting an annual salary of about $123,000.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
