AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — Interim Police Chief Vanessa Wilson is officially the new Aurora Chief of Police. The decision came from a recommendation by city manager Jim Twombly, then the Aurora City Council and Mayor Mike Coffman voted. The vote was 10 -1.
Wilson has been serving as the Interim Police Chief since January. She has been with the department for the past 23 years.
In 2015 she was the first female to attain the rank of Division Chief in the department and was the first female to serve in the position of Aurora Interim Police Chief. She is now the first female Aurora Police Chief in the history of the Aurora Police Department.
Four people, including two internal candidates, were being considered for the position: Aurora Police Department Cmdr. Marcus Dudley, Baltimore County Police Department Bureau Chief Alexander Jones, Dallas Police Department Assistant Chief Avery Moore and APD Interim Chief Vanessa Wilson.
“I think the last several months have demonstrated that it’s really important to get this hire right,” said Curtis Gardner, an Aurora City Council member and a public safety committee member.
“It was really important to a lot of us on council to have a community engagement process about who our next police chief would be,” Angela Lawson said, who also sits on the committee.