Police chief finalists set to interview with community panel

Aurora’s residents will get the opportunity to meet the two candidates for police chief Tuesday evening.

The two candidates — Scott Ebner, a retired lieutenant colonel and deputy superintendent of administration for the New Jersey State Police, and David Franklin, the chief of staff at the Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico — will interview with a community panel and meet with cultural and faith-based community leaders, as well with business people.

They will also be available to mingle with public members from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Aurora Municipal Center lobby.

On Wednesday, they will interview with Mayor Mike Coffman and members of Aurora City Council in small groups.

Ebner and Franklin will also talk to the city’s executive management team and department directors.

Members of the public may provide feedback on the taped interviews with the candidates once they are concluded by visiting EngageAurora.org/PoliceChiefSearch.

The city hired a recruiting firm, the California-based Public Sector Search & Consulting, to conduct a national search for the position.

The new chief faces the task of keeping the Aurora Police Department on task in meeting the terms of a consent decree with the state. Aurora earlier agreed to make changes to its public safety agencies after an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office found patterns of bias and excessive force in policing.

The city’s former police chief, Chief Vanessa Wilson, was fired in April. Since her departure the agency has been helmed by Interim Chief Dan Oates, who led the Aurora Police Department from 2005 to 2014 and was the head of the agency during the 2012 movie theater massacre.