Aurora continues police chief search after finalist withdraws application

The City of Aurora announced on Tuesday evening it will continue to recruit candidates for the city's new police chief. This comes after two months of searching for a new top officer and narrowing it down to two finalists. 

City Manager Jim Twombly was quoted in the city's press release saying feedback from the community as well as from city council led Aurora to ultimately decide continued recruitment was necessary.

According to the press release, affecting the decision in part was the withdrawal of one of the two finalists in the recruitment process. Finalists Scott Ebner and David Franklin visited Aurora at the end of September in what appeared to be the culmination of the search for a new chief. In the press release, Aurora confirmed Franklin withdrew his application after both candidates took part in the three-day final selection process in Aurora. 

"I greatly appreciate the time the finalists spent with our community," Twombly said in the press release. 

A third candidate had also stepped away from pursuing the role shortly before Ebner and Franklin visited with the community for final selection.

Aurora says it received 21 applications total in the two months the position was posted, and two applicants withdrew early in the process. 

The city also mentioned the pool of potential candidates included seven applicants who were women or people of color — 33% of the applicants. Two of those applicants were selected for semi-finalist interviews.

Twombly said he and the city will work to determine the next steps in the search for a new police chief. 

"People across our community may have differing preferences of who they want to lead the Aurora Police Department, but we will make sure that whoever is chosen will be held to serving every member of our community equitably," Twombly said.   

Former police chief Vanessa Wilson was fired by the city manager in April, saying it was a performance-based decision at the time. Coinciding with Wilson's job termination was the arrest of her former partner, Robin Niceta, who was accused of falsifying a child abuse report to retaliate against an Aurora city councilwoman.  

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