Chief Paul Pazen will retire from the Denver Police Department in October, ending a nearly three-decade career with the agency that included four years in the top job, the city announced Wednesday.

Mayor Michael Hancock nominated Division Chief Ron Thomas to succeed Pazen, and Thomas will take over day-to-day management of the department as acting chief on Tuesday.

Pazen spent 28 years rising through the ranks of the department and Hancock appointed him chief in June 2018. He was the city’s second Latino chief and joined the department in 1995 after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps.

During his tenure overseeing the 1,500-officer agency, Pazen steered the department through the COVID-19 pandemic and advocated for initiatives that provide alternatives to police response, like the STAR program.

In the past two years, he led the agency as the city’s violent crime skyrocketed and the department struggled to maintain full staffing.

“It’s been an honor to serve the people of this city, and I couldn’t be prouder to have done it alongside these dedicated women and men of the department who’ve answered the call to protect the residents of Denver no matter the circumstance,” Pazen said in a news release Wednesday. “It’s important to me that the next police chief take the reins at this time so the department and our officers are well positioned for the future of policing in our community.”

The departure follows a July 17 police shooting during which Denver officers opened fire on an armed suspect in a busy nightlife district downtown and injured six innocent bystanders, some of whom suffered serious gunshot wounds.

Pazen also led the department as it reacted to massive racial justice protests in 2020, during which thousands of people marched through central Denver. The city’s police watchdog lambasted the department for using tear gas and pepper balls on peaceful protesters, mismanaging internal communications and failing to properly document officers’ actions and assignments.

Officers inside the department chalked up some of the injuries incurred by officers and protesters to “leadership failure.”

Injured protesters have filed at least a dozen lawsuits against the department over officers’ actions that summer and the city will have to pay $14 million to protesters injured by police after losing a jury trial in one of those lawsuits.

Pazen, through a spokesman, declined an interview Wednesday.

“Chief Pazen has had a distinguished career with the Denver Police Department, and over his nearly three decades in law enforcement, he has served the residents of our city at nearly every level of the department, including its highest rank, with integrity and a community-focused approach to policing,” Hancock said in a news release. “I want to thank Chief Pazen for answering the call to serve, and for his leadership of our community’s police department during these difficult past few years in the life of our city and our country.”

Pazen’s departure comes as Hancock’s time as mayor nears an end. Hancock is term-limited and will leave office in July, prompting a series of high-level city officials to find new jobs. The next mayor likely will conduct their own search for a new chief.

“It’s typical when a mayor is term-limited and people start looking for work,” Denver City Councilman Kevin Flynn said.

Hancock chose Thomas, who oversees patrol operations, to be the city’s next police chief, pending City Council approval. Like Pazen, Thomas has spent his career rising through the department’s ranks. He joined the department in 1989 and is a regular fixture at community events and meetings.

Pazen’s retirement nearly a year before the end of Hancock’s final term surprised some and elicited mixed reactions from members of the City Council and the community.

The timing of Pazen’s retirement surprised Dr. Robert Davis, coordinator of the Task Force to Reimagine Policing and Public Safety, but he said a change in leadership was necessary for the city to move forward. The department lost more of the community’s trust under Pazen’s leadership, he said.

“His tenure took us backward in every way,” Davis said.

Although Pazen gave “lip service” in support of community-driven reform ideas, he didn’t embrace any of the meaningful changes recommended by the task force and instead distanced himself from them, Davis said.

“I hope that a new chief will sit down with the community and think through how public safety should look in the 2020s,” Davis said.

Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca called Pazen’s early departure a gift and said his time as chief was marked by problems.

“His time in leadership is really characterized by failure on many accounts, and that failure is evidenced by not only the amount of settlements and payouts that we’ve made, trials we’ve lost, police mass shootings that we’ve witnessed, but also the lack of accountability that we’ve seen for any of it,” she said.

Others lauded Pazen for his work leading the department during tumultuous years.

“I very much appreciated his methodical approach to policing, his use of data, his knowledge and his research into the causes of crime, especially with the rising crime rate we’re seeing nationwide,” Flynn said.

Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said Pazen was a dedicated public servant who helped launch innovative programs, like the STAR program and another that allows police officers to divert people from the criminal justice system.

“He was committed to improving relationships between the police and the community,” she said in a statement.

Councilwoman Robin Kniech said she hopes Pazen’s replacement will be clear-eyed about the problems facing the Denver Police Department.

“We have to acknowledge that work needs to be done, full stop,” she said. “…I’m looking for leadership that acknowledges these deep challenges and doesn’t try to average them out with the good stuff, that is willing to stare at them head on and really focus on them.”