City of Edgewater: A Letter to the Community

From the City of Edgewater:

Letter to Community

May 13, 2024

Dear Community Members,

City staff have been made aware of a Letter to the Editor posted on various social media sites regarding our Police Department.

As an organization we share the same interests and intentions in making Edgewater more equitable, transparent, and accountable. We will continue to provide information that is publicly available as well as meet with community members to discuss concerns. We have no intention of avoiding calls for accountability. Our mission is to provide exceptional services and programs for our Edgewater Community, and we do this every day as best as we can. Staff works to be proactive and collaborate with individuals and community groups to promote a more equitable Edgewater.

As an organization, the City of Edgewater is limited to what information can be shared due to the privacy of certain personnel information and legal considerations. The last thing the City wishes to do is to release personnel information that employees expect to remain confidential, or release details or information that would compromise an on-going judicial proceeding. This inability to share information can promote others to only share one side of a story, unfortunately.

The City of Edgewater takes all accusations of misconduct very seriously and will continue to investigate allegations with any of our departments. Over the past few years, the City of Edgewater has been a part of more than one significant examination of the Police Department or its members:

• An 18-month Grand Jury Investigation into the Police Department and alleged off-duty incident involving police employees. This far-reaching and protracted investigation yielded criminal charges against one former employee and no other charges against any other City employees or leaders, past or present.
• An investigation by the Attorney General into patterns and Practices by the Edgewater Police Department. This investigation produced no findings of current patterns and practices. This also provided great insight into all the positive changes the Edgewater Police Department has made over the past few years.

Despite these outcomes and completed investigations by neutral third-party agencies, accusations of misconduct and corruption continue. Such accusations are not only hard on the community but also hard on our employees. Our employees are also people in the community, mothers, fathers, and family members, doing their best every day to serve others.

Staff are confident in the current positive direction under the leadership of Chief Sonstegard. City staff are always willing to meet with community members or groups to discuss concerns and provide accurate information, to the extent we can. Please feel free to contact City Manager Dan Maples at 720-763-3012 or email dmaples@edgewaterco.com to set up a meeting.

Joel Newton

Joel has been a resident of Edgewater, Colorado with his family since 2012. He is the Executive Director of local education nonprofit Edgewater Collective and Editor of the Edgewater Echo.