AURORA — For decades, Aurora police officers who appealed their firings did so behind closed doors in a process cloaked in secrecy.
In fact, in his more than 20 years with the city, Assistant City Attorney Peter Morales could not recall a single appeal of a cop termination that was held in public session.
But during the past five months, three officers have chosen to have their appeals open to the public, including a hearing this week for an officer who was fired after he was twice arrested for drunken driving.
“I think it’s a good thing for the citizenry and the city that people can come in and watch the process,” Morales said. “It’s transparency at its best.”
Don James, head of the Aurora Police Association union, said the three officers in these instances may have felt they weren’t given their due process so they wanted the hearings in an open forum.
“Generally, they’re not open,” James said of the appeals. “The individual officer doesn’t want the world to know what happened. It’s their personal business.”
He also said morale is low among rank-and-file Aurora cops, citing unspecified changes that have been made in the department.
“I suppose you could probably read into that as much as you want,” James said. “You have the department having to prove these cases in front of everyone.”
In the first case, the Civil Service Commission in January overturned Police Chief Dan Oates’ decision to fire Officer James Wasel kow, who was terminated for allegedly using excessive force.
In March, the commission upheld Oates’ termination of former Detective Barry Maul, who called a public defender an “idiot” in open court, then lied about it to a judge.
This week, former Aurora police Officer Marc Sears is taking his appeal to the Civil Service Commission. He was fired in January after two arrests for driving under the influence. He was convicted in one case. A second DUI was dismissed, although he pleaded guilty to careless driving in that case.
According to Sears’ complaint, the penalty of termination was “disproportionate to the offense alleged” and not comparable with the discipline of other Aurora officers who committed similar acts.
After winning his case, Waselkow told The Denver Post that he decided to have his appeal open to the public because he didn’t have anything to hide.
Morales said he hopes the trend of opening the appeals process to the public will continue — although during Waseklow’s appeal, mainly police and city employees and the media attended the proceedings.
“Now some of the officers seem to be amenable to the idea of having the process open,” Morales said. “It’s a great benefit for the citizens.”
