Fountain Police Chief details decision to retire at the end of June
FOUNTAIN, Colo. (KRDO) -- During a city council meeting Tuesday, Fountain Police Chief Chris Heberer announced his retirement.
Heberer is retiring on June 30, 2023.
Wednesday, Heberer and the Fountain Police Department released a statement detailing why he's retiring and outlining accomplishments made under his tenure.
In the statement, Heberer said the decision to retire wasn't easy, but that after 29 years in the military and in law enforcement he's now going to focus on his wife, two daughters, and himself.
He said it's been an honor to serve as the Police Chief and Public Safety Director for the last 8.5 years.
Heberer states he had two main goals when he came to the department in 2015; to leave the Public Safety Department better than he found it and o train and prepare someone on his staff to take over for him when he chose to leave.
During the city council meeting, Ofc. Mark Cristiani, Administrative Commander, was sworn in as the next Chief of Police.
Read Chief Heberer's full statement below or
After much deliberation and contemplating staying on as the Fountain Public Safety Director, I have decided to retire from the City of Fountain effective June 30, 2023. This decision was not easy but ultimately after 29 years in government service as a member of our military and as a chief law enforcement executive it is time to focus on my wife, two daughters and myself. It has been my distinct pleasure to serve as your Police Chief and Public Safety Director over the last 8.5 years.
I had two main goals when I came here in 2015; leave the Public Safety Department better than I found it and train and prepare someone on my staff to take over for me when I chose to leave.
I would like to list some of the accomplishments that are directly contributed to the stellar support we have received from our citizens, both Mayors Ortega and Thompson, our outstanding City Council, Scott Trainor, Todd Evans, City of Fountain staff, District 8 Superintendent, Dr. Keith Owen, Dr. Montina Romero, Joe Fabey, our city co-workers, PPIR owners and staff, and most importantly the almost 110 civilian and sworn members of the Fountain Public Safety department. Our Police, Fire, EMS, and civilian support staff have served our citizens with great compassion, dedication, and care throughout my time here. I am proud of each one of you, we are all in debt for your dedicated year-round 24-hour-a-day service for our protection and safety. You will always be true heroes in my eyes, and I am a much better person today because of you! Thank you.
- Merged dispatch centers with El Paso County, saving the taxpayers money and ensuring the closest emergency vehicle response throughout the Fountain Valley between El Paso County and Fountain 1st responders.
- Created a world-class CompStat (intelligence-led policing model) that has become under Mrs. Wanda
- Cabello’s direct leadership, a state-recognized best practice model and has been implemented in several regional agencies.
- Greatly expanded all communications through numerous platforms to our community under PIO Lisa
- Schneider’s direct leadership. She served as a key link from our public safety department to over 31,000 citizens and numerous news agencies in a highly professional and transparent manner, always ensuring the safety of our community.
- Vastly improved communication and coordination with the Fort Carson Emergency Services that helped reduce Soldier suicide and ensured better combined responses to Soldier issues in Fountain.
- Expanded Community Outreach throughout our businesses, churches, and community groups to humanize the badge and forge strong community relationships.
- Enhanced recruiting and retention strategies that allowed the public safety department to grow by nearly 25 sworn (including 8 fulltime SROs) and civilian positions.
- An unmatched working relationship with School District 8 by increasing our School Resource Officers by 8 positions, ensuring every school in Fountain had a dedicated SRO to ensure a safe environment, serve as adult role models and mentors to our children. This relationship will expand into Fort Carson Schools beginning next year. Our program has been recognized nationally as a model program and would not be possible without the outstanding support of the school board, Dr. Owen and Romero and the outstanding leadership of our SRO Team.
- Public Safety Parades during COVID to enhance community morale, soup kitchen support (thanks LT Racine), senior center support, security at over 30 PPIR events always ensuring a safe environment,
- Labor Day / Fall Festival parade support, Trunk or Treat events, community clean ups….all this to say, when there was an event in Fountain we were always there.
- Upgraded safety equipment and vehicles for the public safety department ensuring our first responders had the best life, health, and safety equipment in the business and the vehicles to properly do their jobs.
- Purchased additional fire apparatuses and an emergency response vehicle for the FPD Rapid Response team.
- Upgraded Fire Station 2 with a full-time ambulance stationed on the East side of the tracks for better community response times and a plan to build a fourth fire station in 2024 on the City’s growing eastern boundary.
- Hired, funded, and created the City’s first two BHCON units combining a mental health clinician with a Fountain police officer for better community mental health and better outcomes for our citizens in crisis.
- The first LE Therapy K9 in the region (thank you Sgt. Marshall). Hulk has made a tremendously positive impact on our community and our children from day one and continues to provide support for our officers at the police station.
- By committing to a physically and mentally healthy police department, we created and resourced the first peer support teams in both the PD and FD for better first responder mental health and early intervention. We have put our police officers through a rigorous physical exam through Sigma Tactical
- Health, which was mostly paid for by the City’s insurance company.
- Created the first Fountain police Explorer program that has grown to over thirty youth, serving as an incredibly positive group for kids in high school and has resulted in two former Explorers working as police officers in our community today.
- The passage of 2B last year by our citizens that will enhance, expand, and ensure the readiness and safety of our community for decades to come. I want to thank the citizens for their support for our department and their votes. I want to personally thank Fran, Penny, Al L, Jennifer H, the Carlands, the
- DICE team, Bob, and Guy from PPIR, Mayor Thompson and the City Council for your unwavering support and all your hard work to help make that happen.
- I want to thank our regional LE / Fire and federal partners from across the Pikes Peak region…. Whenever we called for help you were always there. Our citizens and I personally thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The citizens in Teller and El Paso counties are exceptionally blessed to have men and women of such high character and dedication protecting them daily. I have always been amazed by our combined teamwork and support for each other, especially during hard times. Thank you all!
In conclusion, I want you all to know the Public Safety Department is in the best hands possible as I leave. Newly selected Chief Mark Cristiani is a 30-year veteran of law enforcement. He has served in a Sheriff’s Office, retired as a senior homicide / major crimes detective from Scottsdale, Arizona and has served as a key member of my staff since 2018. Mark is the right person for the job now and will continue the legacy, goals, objectives, and service to our community as it has been. I know he will find ways to make our department even better and lead it to successfully meet the challenges we will face in the future. He has my full confidence and my unwavering support; he is in the process of moving to the city limits to be your Chief. Chief Devin Graham after serving at the Chief in Roswell, New Mexico for 8 years, has been a terrific addition to our community and in a short amount of time has proven to be a phenomenal leader that I have rarely come across in my career. He is absolutely the right person to lead our fire department far into the future. We are extremely lucky to have these two exceptional leaders at the helm. Please know that I would not, in good conscious, retire without knowing both departments were in good hands.
Lastly, I want to thank God for his support and his wisdom that brought me to Fountain and to my wife, Mandy. Mandy and both my daughters, Alea and Reagan, have been my backbone and support structure everyday good or bad throughout this journey. I could not have accomplished anything without their love and support for the long hours, after-hours calls, critical incident responses, and their own love for our officers and firefighters. Mandy spent so much of her own time personally visiting our SROs, our police station and fire stations bringing personalized small gifts, attending almost all events for our city because of her own love for our city and our first responders. Thank you and I love you. I am looking forward to the next chapter of our lives together. Life can be short; tomorrow is not promised, and family is what matters most in life
Fountain Police Chief Chris Heberer
