GEORGETOWN, Colo. — Hours after a Clear Creek County judge swore him in as the county’s new sheriff, Matthew Harris was already making changes.
9NEWS confirmed Tuesday afternoon that Harris chose to end the employment of Clear Creek County Undersheriff John Stein. Stein led the department for a few months after former sheriff Rick Albers retired following scrutiny over the Christian Glass shooting. The former undersheriff had to forfeit his county-owned vehicle Tuesday and another officer drove him home, a county spokeswoman told 9NEWS.
Stein was appointed undersheriff last year after the sudden death of former Clear Creek County Undersheriff Bruce Snelling. He had previously served as the police chief in Empire and the undersheriff of Grand County.
Harris was sworn in as the temporary sheriff during Tuesday morning’s county board meeting. Harris comes to Clear Creek County from the Office of Inspector General with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He has also held positions with the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Postal Service's Office of Inspector General. He holds a Ph.D. in business administration from Northcentral University in Arizona.
Harris was brought in by county commissioners to be a reformer for the department, which has faced serious scrutiny after its reaction to the Glass shooting. Three now-former deputies were charged with various crimes, including former Deputy Andrew Buen. Buen will be in court Wednesday as he prepares for trial on second degree murder charges for the June 2022 shooting.
Reporters asked Harris, who has no history in the area, why he wanted to take on the job.
“This was obviously a challenging situation,” Harris said after the ceremony. “But it's something that I look forward to. I've inherited challenging situations and past positions, probably none as challenging as this.”
Harris said he hasn’t watched the full video of the encounter with Glass but has seen portions in media reports.
“We need to learn from mistakes, but not dwell on them and make sure that our team and our patrol are focused on patrol in our training, stronger and in alignment with POST standards and best practices organizationally, and best practices around the country for traditional law enforcement,” he said.
Harris did say he wanted to meet Christian Glass’s parents. Under terms of a $19 million dollar settlement with the Glass Family, Christian’s parents are granted the right to speak to new recruits inside the sheriff’s office.
As a condition of that settlement, the sheriff’s office had to write an apology to the Glass family. Former Sheriff Rick Albers wrote that his deputies “failed to meet expectations” when they shot Glass, a statement chided by the county board at the time for not taking the situation seriously enough.
During court proceedings for police officers charged in the Glass case, it has been regular practice for the sheriff’s department to escort charged officers through private entrances to the courthouse through the sheriff’s office. During the first appearance for Buen in late 2022, deputies in body armor lined the hallway of the courthouse.
Attorneys for the family have questioned whether all of those instances indicate a culture problem within the department. Harris says it’s too early for him to diagnose if there is a culture issue.
“This is day one, so I'm going to look behind the curtain. I'm going to kick the tires and see if there is a cultural problem,” he said. “But I've had so many people reach out to me and say, we want to help you, we want to fix our problems, we want to move this organization forward.”
Harris replaces Albers, who spent much of his career working for Clear Creek County. Commissioners indicated Tuesday that Albers has moved to Florida following his retirement.
“Rick Albers served this community really well for a really long time,” Harris said. “And he should be commended on the service that he gave his community.”
“Like any organization, sometimes it's time for change," Harris said. "And sometimes it's time to bring new blood, new ideas, fresh ideas.
Have a tip for 9NEWS reporter Steve Staeger? E-mail steve@9news.com.
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