A conversation with Dr. Joel Fitzgerald Sr., RTD’s Chief of Police and Emergency Management

RTD’s newest Chief of Police and Emergency Management, Dr. Joel Fitzgerald Sr., joined the agency in August and carries primary responsibility for customer safety and security across the eight counties and 40 cities of the Denver metro region in which RTD operates. He holds three decades of law enforcement experience and has served as police chief in four U.S. cities. The chief position at RTD is his first with a transit agency.

Having had some time to settle into his new position, Fitzgerald agreed to take part in a wide-ranging interview exploring many topics of interest to the public, including structural changes being made to the Police Department, issues and opportunities across the RTD system, and safety at this point in the pandemic. The discussion that followed is being presented in three parts, starting today.

At the time of this conversation, you are closing in on three months as Chief of Police and Emergency Management with RTD – your fifth appointment to such a role, and your first in transit. What have you observed during that time? How do the challenges and opportunities in the Denver metro region compare to those in other communities where you have served?

It is distinctly different, because prior to my hire in RTD there's not been a dedication to a full-service Police Department, in lieu of utilizing contracted security. That meant the organization had to rely upon the behaviors and attentiveness of people who are contracted to us, as opposed to our own employees, many times handling critical and dangerous crisis situations. You’ve seen in our nation how just the slightest interaction with someone in crisis, with someone facing addiction problems or, let's say, a juvenile who's out of control, can lead to a bad result for everyone involved. Being able to deescalate situations, and do so in a manner that's highly professional, is an expectation that most transit agencies across our country have understood requires trained police, and we're no different here in Denver. We're transitioning to a full-service, full-time Police Department with proper staffing, and that's been difficult for some, even within RTD, to embrace. Some have seen expansion of RTD PD as focusing no longer on the entirety of the agency, but that is not true.



The safety and security of RTD employees and everyone who takes advantage of our transit environment should be of paramount importance to every employee. Better positioning ourselves in the safety environment to be a transit system that people feel safe on and that is monitored correctly is important. This is something that I hear from customers, people on trains and using our implements of transportation, or just walking around Union Station, after committing resources down there that traditionally have never been invested. Folks are saying the environment is better, and that's a step in the right direction. But it also should resonate with all stakeholders, including our employees, that you can expect better public safety conditions. Expect for RTD PD to take a more prominent role in the safety environment, and RTD employees should expect to be able to do their jobs and not be the subject of random assaults.

The department’s public safety action plan notes that RTD General Manager and CEO Debra A. Johnson has authorized hiring 45 more sworn police officer positions, to add to the 18 sworn positions already in place. This is part of a broader plan to hire 200 police officers by 2024 and rely less upon contracted security officers and off-duty officers from local police departments. What goals have you identified in deploying staff differently as part of this new, decentralized approach, and what will such a change mean to RTD customers and the broader public?

Let's look at it from the decentralized perspective. Unlike other departments in RTD, we weren't even co-located in the same environment – and we aren't now, but we will be shortly. The majority of RTD police officers report for work at District Shops, but have never had locker rooms, work areas, etc. You have police administration reporting for work in our Blake Street facility, and that separation can lead to a lack of communication and strategic impediments. Some may say, “We have Microsoft Teams, and in the post-COVID-19 era, we can log into Teams and tell people what to do,” but there is absolutely no substitute for being co-located, working face-to-face with people whom you see physically every day, and that you're able to casually communicate with. I think that's going to help us with high performance in the long run.



We have 18 filled positions and are down four officers, one corporal and one lieutenant. We have five people teed up for hire as police commanders. We also have approximately 30 sworn officers teed up for hire, 15 of whom are now moving through our hiring process. Debra (Johnson, RTD’s General Manager and CEO) challenged me to recruit and staff, and in a terrible environment for recruiting police officers, this department is performing admirably. At least for now and for the near future, as our security contract with Allied Universal Security remains unfulfilled, I decided to leverage the difference of monies that we have obligated to meet that agreement to hire new RTD officers. That totaled approximately $8 million in salary savings and penalties that we assessed to Allied for not being able to execute their end, but more importantly, denied our stakeholders the additional public safety staff intended to protect the system. We have, in short, better positioned RTD PD for the long-term, to function as a full-service law enforcement organization.



All RTD department heads are aware that pursuant to the peer review that APTA (the American Public Transportation Association) completed in 2021, the creation of a full-time Police Department and infrastructure changes were recommended. Debra pulled the trigger on those recommendations based upon informed national pundits in the transit policing industry who said RTD can do a better job by expanding police staffing and transitioning to an accredited police department. They recommended strategies that we've already put into place, changes that enhance expectations from this department and RTD. It’s not going to be without its challenges, so the important message is that we will need support, flexibility and cooperation to fully execute her direction.

Where have you focused your time and effort in these initial weeks? What priorities are emerging? How are these shaping your plans for the future of RTD’s Transit Police department?

Everywhere. Whether it is recruiting diverse and experienced individuals to become RTD police officers, screening candidates for commander positions, breaking down interdepartmental silos, or assessing deployment or evidence-based strategies, I have been busy. Since I have crime plan experience in other cities, I identified deficiencies in our system, for example, the lack of commitment of physical police resources at Union Station, an area I quickly addressed.



A legitimate plan to restore a code of conduct that we can all be proud of is taking shape, and we’ve put a lot of resources downtown to initiate the change we want to see in the entire system. I made that change because in the past we were playing, as I put it, Whac-A-Mole. A problem, or series of problems, would occur anywhere across the system, we’d dedicate a ton of resources to address them, and we wouldn't completely solve the problem. We might address it over the short term, but it would reoccur, sometimes within a week.



In November 2022, we take a systematic and evidence-based approach. Our charge is, let's win the war and backfill those areas to create stability, making sure problems don't reoccur long-term. For example, in Union Station we're working with other RTD departments to ensure restrooms are open to customers, remain clean, and are places where you and your child can go without worrying about an assault or someone using fentanyl next to you. The restrooms are staffed on the exterior and checked every 15 minutes or so. We also make sure the Union Station bus terminal closes on time and that people inside the bus terminal understand that it is a transportation hub, and not a hotel; people must now leave immediately upon terminal closure. An important qualifier to these safety enhancements is RTD PD and security doing those things in a timely manner, every day, and with absolute consistency.



Steadiness is everything. If those persons who behave poorly at Union Station both upstairs and downstairs understand that conduct in violation of law or policy will not be tolerated, and we consistently reinforce that aberrant, unlawful behaviors will be met with penalty, then the behaviors and conditions will continue to change in a positive manner. Perhaps the biggest difference between how I lead the organization and maybe how it was led in the past, is that I am less likely to focus on minor problems at some distant locations, because unless we can get our primary areas of concern under control at this point – i.e., Union Station, Civic Center – we will continue fighting uphill and unproductive battles. We know that RTD shares these areas with the city, state or other municipalities, but if we harden our locations and set a new standard for acceptable behavior, it facilitates the collective effectiveness of our collaboration with other law enforcement entities.



While moving forward, the way we remain consistent with that mission is by working through our five new commander positions. They'll each have one of five expansive coverage areas they're responsible for, and will have the latitude to create their own unique plans to both solve problems and prevent them from reoccurring. This approach is one that I’ve tested over 13 years as a police chief, by placing the trust in and ownership upon people who can move the needle. Our deputy chiefs and commanders have the flexibility and commensurate level of authority to modify deployment and to hyperfocus, in many ways like we're doing now in Union Station (and downtown). They will serve as integral pieces in reestablishing how we do business across the region. I'm famous for saying “Inspect what you expect,” so I expect that our sworn folks and security will both pay attention to what's going on and change the overall behavioral standards on the RTD system.

Tomorrow, Chief Fitzgerald talks about policing RTD stations in Colorado’s winter months and plans to add more mental health clinicians and a licensed social worker to the team. To read that part of the conversation, visit the News Stop.