City Of Arvada Begins Search For New Police Chief

ARVADA, CO -- The City of Arvada has begun to advertise in a nationwide search for a new police chief. Online advertisements appeared this week in various online police recruitment publications and websites asking for applications with a deadline of May 1.

Chief Don Wick retired in December, 2017 after 32 years as an officer, including 10 years as chief of police in Arvada. Fort Collins-based Numerica Corp., a company that analyses data for police departments and U.S. Dept. of Defense, announced in January that Wick had taken a job as director of operations.

Requirements for the new chief include "a master’s degree in public administration or a related field and ten years of experience in areas relating to policing, including five years of command officer experience," the city's job description said. The Arvada police department is described as "a very young department, with a number of officers nearing retirement and only a few mid-career officers."

Interim Arvada Chief of Police Ed Brady served as Deputy Chief before being kicked upstairs to the chief role.

Arvada City Manager Mark Deven said he invited internal candidates who qualified to apply. “This decision [to recruit nationally for police chief] should not be interpreted as a sign that I do not value any of our internal candidates," Deven said in a statement. "In fact, I believe our internal candidates will compete very well in a national recruitment because we have an excellent police department staffed and supported by excellent leaders, officers, and civilian employees. I am very confident that any internal candidate will be among all candidates that would merit serious consideration.”

The city has said they hope to have a new chief by early summer 2018.

“The selection of Arvada’s next Chief of Police is a major decision which will impact our organization and community for years to come,” Deven said.

Image via Shutterstock