Four men and two women sat on the front row, dressed in jeans, T-shirts and ball caps, as Denver’s top police brass poured on the praise this afternoon.
“You are the best of the best,” Chief Gerry Whitman told six of the eight members of his department’s 19-month-old fugitive unit.
But a criminal would never look twice at their ordinary faces as they passed on the street or went to the door to receive a package.
And that’s the idea behind these undercover cops, who are way smarter than the hard-to-catch criminals they’ve plucked off the street in impressive numbers.
“We arrest bad guys, real bad guys,” said Lt. Tony Lopez, the head of the elite undercover unit that first worked the slaying of Darrent Williams in January 2007 a case, ironically, that remains unsolved.
Since then, however, the small group has used their brains, not their guns, to outwit and arrest 933 fugitives, including 58 suspected of murder or attempted murder suspected of murder or attempted murder, 124 wanted on sex crimes, 155 gang members, and 209 sought on domestic violence charges.
Detectives have taken guns off 24 of those they’ve arrested.
Lopez was cagey about the tactics his undercover officers use, but said “ingenious” ruses ensured those arrested never see it coming until it’s too late to run or fight.
Not one officer has been injured, and not one shot has been fired, supervisors said.
The officers and their families make huge sacrifices to commit to a double life of secret identities, however. The unit’s motto: “2-4/7, 365” for the hours and days they work.
Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said there is a waiting list of officers who want to be on the investigatory A-team.
The team currently includes detectives Larry Black, Gil Lucio, Matt Mullins, Toni Trujillo, Mike O’Neil Jr., David Bourgeois and assistant Shelly Loos.
Sgt. Joel Bell, a veteran of covert operations, picks the team members, who network with other cops, sidle up to the friends of fugitives and develop leads on the street that a beat cop in a badge and blue never could.
But as much as it’s about crimes that demand justice, it also about preventing crimes, Lopez said.
“If they’re not off they street, they’re going to go out and commit other crimes to get by,” he said. “They’re wanted; they can’t go out and get 9-to-5 jobs like you and me … and the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior.”
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
