Vasquez sworn in as Tuesday as chief of Colorado Springs Police Department
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Adrian Vasquez has been sworn in as the Chief of Police for the city of Colorado Springs.
Vasquez, who turns 57 in June, has served as the interim chief since the retirement of Colorado Springs Police Department Chief Vincent Niski in March.
Chief Vasquez joined CSPD in 1995 after serving in the US Air Force for 9 1/2 years. According to CSPD, the chief has previously served in the Sand Creek Division, the Metro, Vice, Narcotics and Intelligence (Metro VNI) Division, and on the DEA Task Force.
Vasquez had a strong endorsement from Mayor John Suthers, and got the job as one of several finalists from an initial pool of 25 applicants. He received several standing ovations inside the packed Council chamber, and later celebrated with family and friends.
The Council voted 8-1 to appoint Vasquez, with the lone dissenting vote cast by Councilman Bill Murray, who wanted the new chief to be from outside the department.
"I feel that the public was not served as well as it should have been in this particular process," he said. "So, as we stand here discussing business as usual, I don't want business as usual. I think you deserve something different. We need to see real change."
Councilman Wayne Williams disagreed.
The Council's job isn't to say who we would have picked," he said. "The Council's job is to ask if the mayor choose someone who's appropriate. Absolutely on that side, but it's also who I would have picked."
Vasquez said that he respected Murray's lack of support.
"I will say that we're a very progressive organization," he said. "We have been -- under the chiefs before me -- and will continue to be under me. We're forward-thinking and we're always looking for best practices to make us the best organization in the country, quite frankly."
Chief Vasquez says one of his top priorities is improving transparency with the Colorado Springs Police Department, starting by holding forums and Town Hall meetings in which the public would be invited to attend and express their thoughts and concerns about the department.
Vasquez also wants to prioritize creating additional positions within CSPD. KRDO previously reported there are 803 available positions within the department, 760 of which are filled.
"As we grow -- out east, especially -- that expands the area that our officers have to respond to," he explained. "So we're already looking at two substations to expand to that growth. We're re-inventing how we recruit, how we train."
Vasquez said that he wants to make sure the department "looks like" the community it's serving, and that the current numbers put the department behind in the African American and Hispanic communities.
The city's last police chiefs to be hired from outside the department or area were Richard Myers, whop served from 2007 to 2011, and Lorne Kramer, who held the job from 1990 to 2001.
