AURORA, Colo. — Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz announced his retirement after four years with the department in a letter posted to the Aurora Police Department's Facebook page Friday night.
Metz wrote that he plans to stick around until the end of the year to work with city management and Aurora Police Department command staff during the transition of leadership.
In recent weeks, Metz has responded to protests at the ICE facility— including one where protesters took down flags.
He's overseen several high-profile investigations, including the shooting of Richard Gary Black at the man's home last year.
Metz worked in Seattle for more than 30 years before coming to Aurora.
"After weeks of soul searching and getting through a successfully unified and pride-filled weekend of addressing protests in our city, I felt this was the optimal time to notify city management of my decision to retire," his letter reads. "After 36 story-filled years in law enforcement, making the decision to retire was incredibly difficult."
"Though I will be retiring from law enforcement in its traditional definition...I still plan to stay very connected. As many of you know, I have a deep passion for taking care of our first responders and their families. My plan is to continue on that path," Metz said.
Metz went into detail about the next steps in his career, which you can read below.
1- I plan to work with...let me rephrase that...I plan to work FOR my wife at Code-4 Counseling where I will provide wellness trainings to first responders, and assist in managing the day-to-day operations as she and her amazing staff provide counseling services and post-critical incident response to first responders throughout much of the state.
2- I will be working with Colorado State University-Global in helping to create high quality online training and other educational opportunities for first responders, particularly in the area of enhancing physical and emotional wellness.
3- I will be enrolling to Colorado State University-Global where I will complete my Masters Degree in Counseling for First Responders / Military. This will be a new program created by Dr. Sara Metz and will be the first of its kind in the country. My goal will be to continue serving our first responders and their families within a therapeutic environment. And, in what little free time I have, I plan to train and handle a therapy dog to assist our first responders.
4- I will continue to work with the great folks (many from APD) at Colorado Fallen Heroes Foundation. This amazing organization, in its short existence, has provided much needed assistance to various law enforcement agencies and the families of our fallen brothers and sisters when the unimaginable strikes.
5- And...wait for it...you might catch me at a coffee shop or two with my guitar and keyboard.
I did say I was retiring, right? 😊
You can read the full letter from Chief Metz below.
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