Oct 14, 2008 6:01 pm US/Mountain
Sheridan Police Commander Disciplined
Written by Brian Maass
DENVER (CBS4) ―
A Sheridan police commander has been disciplined but will keep his job after a CBS4 investigation uncovered apparent ticket fixing inside the department.
"Our investigation is complete," Police Chief Marc Vasquez said. "And there were violations of department and city policies. I have administered appropriate discipline … only to Commander David Runco."
Vasquez declined to specify how Runco was punished, but indicated the commander was not losing his job. Vasquez also indicated he did not believe any laws were broken.
In June, a CBS4 investigation revealed tickets given to two of Runco's friends in 2007 had never made it into municipal court files and had essentially "disappeared." CBS4 obtained copies of the tickets before they vanished. In both cases, the disappearing tickets allowed Runco's friends to avoid $100 fines and points assessed against their licenses.
Following the CBS4 probe, Vasquez initiated an internal investigation saying it was "unusual" for officers to write tickets but never have the citations show up in court files.
On Tuesday, four months after launching that investigation, Vasquez said he was able to "substantiate there were violations based on the information" uncovered by CBS4, and that Runco was the only officer being disciplined.
Runco has declined to discuss the case.
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