The Regional Transportation District’s police chief is on unspecified leave this month amid efforts to increase safety for riders as violence and illegal drug use spread onto buses and trains.
RTD Board Chairman Erik Davidson responded to questions from The Denver Post on Thursday, confirming in a text message that “Chief Joel Fitzgerald is on leave, effective July 1.”
Davidson didn’t comment further andRTD communications officials declined to provide details or an explanation.
RTD Board Director Doug Tisdale, who also serves on the American Public Transportation Association board, said ramping up police protection for RTD riders will continue.
“Any issues that may be associated with our chief of police do not impair or impede our plans to continue to enhance and provide greater security along the entire RTD system, including the continued employment of additional police officers,” Tisdale said in an email.
RTD is struggling to contain societal violence spilling into public transit spaces that once were safer. Data obtained from the agency through Colorado Open Records Act requests showed passengers on RTD’s buses and trains regularly were assaulted and threatened over the last three years and that RTD drivers have been assaulted more than 100 times a year on average since 2019.
The violence has spurred RTD’s directors to double their police force toward a target of 119 officers by the end of this year. They have ramped up armed patrols and installed protective barriers between drivers and passengers.
CBS Colorado first reported that Fitzgerald was placed on leave, citing an internal memo and referring to an outside investigation of alleged “policy violations.”
Hired in August 2022 as RTD’s chief of police and emergency management, Fitzgerald has taken primary responsibility for improving rider safety across eight counties, a 2,342-square-mile service area that ranks among the largest in the nation.
Previously, Fitzgerald served as a police chief in four U.S. cities. He worked in various capacities for 17 years in the Philadelphia Police Department and holds a doctorate in business administration. He has described himself as “a person of integrity” who sets expectations high “for interactions with people” to not only beat crime but also build legitimacy and trust.
He has championed a “firm compassion” approach to policing.
RTD officials have watched public transit ridership in metro Denver decrease from 105.8 million boardings in 2019 to 65.2 million in 2023. Transit agencies nationwide have been wrestling with violence and drug use.
An RTD table in an agency document shows that, during the first half of 2023, transit police officers made an average of 36 arrests a month, and that they responded to a monthly average of 60 assaults, 486 disturbances, 1,206 drug-related incidents, 389 trespasses and 58 instances of vandalism.
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Originally Published: July 25, 2024 at 5:42 p.m.
