LOVELAND, Colo. (KDVR) — The chief of the Loveland Police Department is leaving in the midst of controversy within the city’s force.
After serving on the LPD for nearly six years, Bob Ticer is leaving to take the position as chief of the Prescott Valley Police Department in Arizona.
“I want to extend my deep appreciation to Chief Ticer for his nearly six years of leadership, stewardship, and vision for Loveland. We wish him the best in his new role,” Loveland City Manager Steve Adams said. “As for the Loveland community, we will build upon recent progress in strengthening trust in our police department. Your Loveland Police Department remains one of my top priorities.”
The department has been under scrutiny since the forceful arrest of 73-year-old Karen Garner in 2020. She suffers from dementia and the two officers involved in the initial arrest dislocated her shoulder and were captured on video joking about the incident.
Those officers no longer work for the department and their sergeant resigned but Ticer remained in place until now. The incident occurred in 2020 but a lawsuit wasn’t filed until last year.
The city settled on a $3 million payment stemming from the suit filed on behalf of Garner. One of the officers, Austin Hopp is facing felony assault and other charges, which a possible plea deal is being negotiated and the family is rejecting.
Ticer said the decision was personal and released a statement on Tuesday:
I am very proud of the successes that we had during my tenure as chief of police for our community and our department over the last six years. During this period of time we were able to accomplish many projects such as the building of the Northern Colorado Regional Law Enforcement Training Center and completion of the Combined Regional Information Systems Project (CRISP), both of which support community safety for our officers and the public. I am proud that we were able to strengthen staffing levels and benefits for our officers while providing state-of-the-art equipment, to include sport utility vehicles for patrol and body-worn cameras to better serve our community. These opportunities and partnerships provided a mechanism to put more police officers into our schools to protect our children and staff.
I wish to thank the community and professional members of Loveland PD who focused on our mission to reduce crime and increase traffic safety through a smart data-driven approach. This philosophy allowed our agency, working together with the community, to significantly decrease crimes and traffic crashes in Loveland, which was a top priority. For that I am most grateful and proud of.
I look forward to working with the dedicated and professional men and women of the Prescott Valley Police Department and working hard to ensure we have strong relations with the community as we work to reduce crime and improve traffic safety there.
The Town of Prescott Valley community relations coordinator told FOX31, “During every step of the extensive interview and hiring process, Chief Ticer was forthcoming and fully disclosed everything that happened regarding this incident. It was discussed at every level of the process, including the actions Chief Ticer took once he was made aware of the situation.”