Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has chosen to keep at least two current public safety cabinet members first appointed by his predecessor, Michael Hancock — a move that has rankled one of his former rivals in the election.
Johnston announced Tuesday that he has renominated Ron Thomas as Denver police chief and Armando Saldate III as executive director of the Denver Department of Public Safety. The nominations will need city council approval before they become official.
“Public safety is one of my top priorities as mayor,” Johnston said in a news release. “We laid out a big vision for what’s possible in Denver, and we’re delighted that Armando and Chief Thomas share this vision. Together, these proven leaders can help deliver a safer city for Denverites.”
Nearly four months after he took office, Johnston’s long-term plan for those top public safety posts was among the biggest unresolved questions surrounding whom he would choose to fill out his administration’s appointed positions.
The mayor said during an interview with The Denver Post in October that changing leadership in top public safety roles could be disruptive — in positions that often require a lengthy search process.
But the decision to keep the two leaders came under fire Tuesday from Lisa Calderón, a nonprofit leader and longtime criminal justice activist who came in third in the mayor’s race this spring.
“After a performative community outreach process, a gutted internal feedback survey, and no effort to recruit women, Mayor Johnston reappointed DPD Chief Ron Thomas and mediocre public safety leader (Armando) Saldate w/ other men soon to follow,” Calderón posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
She had given Johnston a lukewarm endorsement during the mayoral runoff election campaign, in part based on the belief he would move to reform the city’s public safety agencies. Now Calderón says Johnston is leading an administration that feels like a continuation of Hancock’s time in office.
Johnston’s public safety-focused transition committee recommended that both Thomas and Saldate be considered as finalists to stay in their positions, the mayor noted earlier. He also said previously that he planned to consider resident feedback gathered at town hall meetings and internal surveys of police and safety department employees.
Other Denver community leaders have supported Thomas.
In a letter sent to Johnston last month, a group that included Portia Prescott,president of the NAACP state conference for Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, and Nita Gonzales, who chaired Johnston’s public safety transition committee, voiced their support for keeping Thomas as well as Denver Sheriff Elias Diggins and Denver Fire Chief Desmon Fulton.
The letter credited the trio for responding to community feedback and working hard to address gun violence and gang activity.
“The recent campaign against the current administration, led by some well-intentioned but misguided individuals, compels us to write this letter in hopes that it may serve as a reminder of the experiences of individuals who interact daily with your current administration on a range of legal, environmental, housing and social issues,” reads the letter, which was signed by seven community members.
The letter did not mention Saldate. Johnston has not yet announced his choices for fire chief or sheriff.
Thomas was appointed in October 2022 as Denver police chief after serving as the department’s patrol division chief since 2018.
His two main priorities when he was appointed were to reduce crime and “increase the public’s trust” in the department, he said in an October 2022 column in The Post.
Thomas joined the Denver Police Department in 1989, holding assignments in patrol, investigations, police administration and special operations.
Saldate was first nominated in January 2022 as director of the Department of Public Safety, which oversees, manages and provides discipline, administrative support and policy direction for the police, fire and sheriff’s departments as well as Denver 9-1-1, Community Corrections, Public Safety Youth Programs and the Office of Community Violence Solutions.
He began his law enforcement career in Colorado at the Denver Sheriff’s Department and was an assistant deputy to the previous safety director before his own appointment.
Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.
