EDGEWATER —Edgewater has hired an interim police chief to lead the department after .
Interim Chief John Mackey said he is still unpacking boxes and getting settled in to what will be his fourth stint heading a police department.
The former police chief of the town of Dillon, and Auraria and Red Rocks campuses, comes from a long career in law enforcement. He started as a Lakewood patrol officer in 1981, and during the course of a 20-year career with the department he served as a detective, public information officer and instructor in police academy classes.
“I worked right next door in the northeast part of Lakewood, which shares a boundary with Edgewater, so I’m very familiar with this neighborhood,” Mackey said.
He said he graduated from the University of Massachusetts Boston with an education degree in the mid-1970s. His first job was an Outward Bound instructor.
“My goal back then was to work with all different ranges of people,” Mackey said. “Young, old, adaptive, nonadaptive. … I did internships with special education folks, did an internship working with people in a coma, I’ve been involved with the Special Olympics for 40 years; I just like working with people.”
He moved to Colorado to ski but ended up taking a job with the Lakewood Police Department.
In the 34 years since, he’s started a youth hockey league that utilized police and firefighters as coaches and began a Bikes for Tykes program that collected bicycles for underprivileged kids. He also started a weekly community service program for youth involved in delinquent behaviors that has sent over 12,000 kids on educational tours through federal, state and county prisons and jails.
After leaving the Lakewood Police Department in 2001, he served in alternate roles as interim town manager, police chief and town councilor for the City of Dillon. He also acted as police chief for Red Rocks Community College and Auraria Higher Education Center.
J.C. Cox is one of the founding board members of and has known and worked with Mackey for more than 30 years. He said the law enforcement officer has made an outsized impact on thousands of youth in Jefferson County.
“He’s always been a go-getter and one of those people who has to remain active,” Cox said. “He’s always been a community-minded guy, so I’m not surprised at all he’s taken on this new role. They’re getting a good guy over there in Edgewater.”
Edgewater city manager HJ Stalf said the city hired a recruiting agency to find an interim chief and hopefully will have something permanent worked out by the end of the year.
“He’s extremely well qualified for the chief position, and the process for the full-time position is to be determined,” Stalf said. “He’s certainly likely to be a candidate; he’s only been here a week so we’re not quite to that decision.”
Mackey said he plans on applying for the full-time position and in the meantime, will be getting settled in by attending community gatherings and getting to know the small police force serving the city of 5,000.
He said he’s a firm believer in community policing and is excited to be working in an area on the rise.
“These neighborhoods have improved a lot and are really coming alive,” Mackey said. “I remember a few years ago my police car was broken into just a few blocks from here — now you see mothers walking with strollers to Sloan’s Lake … there’s definitely a lot of good things happening now.”
Austin Briggs: 303-954-1729, abriggs@denverpost.com or twitter.com/abriggs
