Fired Officers, Public Paychecks: Denver Security Firm Scrutinized
A Denver security company hired two officers fired from Colorado police departments for taxpayer-funded security jobs, raising oversight questions.
Investigation Raises Questions About Who’s Guarding Denver’s Public Spaces
A new investigation from Denver7 is drawing scrutiny to the private security industry’s role in staffing taxpayer-funded positions across Colorado, after reporters found that a Denver-area security company hired two officers who had previously been fired from Colorado police departments. The findings, published as part of Denver7’s ongoing “Unchecked Authority” series on Sept. 15, 2026, highlight a gap between how police accountability is supposed to work and how easily officers who lose their badges can end up back in positions of public trust.
The report focuses on a security firm that placed the two former officers into roles funded by public money — the kind of taxpayer-backed security contracts that cities and government agencies increasingly rely on to supplement or substitute for sworn police presence at public facilities, transit hubs, and municipal buildings. According to Denver7’s reporting, both men had been terminated from law enforcement agencies in Colorado before being hired into these publicly funded security roles, raising the question of how thoroughly the company — and the government entities that contracted with it — vetted their backgrounds.
A Known Problem, an Unclear Fix
Colorado has taken steps in recent years to make it harder for problem officers to quietly move between departments, a practice critics have long called “wandering officers” or being “gypsy cops.” Following the passage of Senate Bill 20-217 in 2020, the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board began maintaining a public database that tracks officer certifications, including decertifications tied to misconduct. The law was part of a broader package of police accountability reforms passed in the wake of nationwide protests over police violence, and it was meant to prevent officers pushed out of one agency for cause from simply resurfacing at another.
But that database, and the certification system behind it, governs sworn law enforcement positions — not private security jobs. Private security companies operate under a different, generally lighter, regulatory framework, even when their employees are stationed at government buildings, transit stops, or other publicly funded sites under contract. That distinction appears to be central to what Denver7’s investigation uncovered: officers who lost their law enforcement certification, or who were fired for misconduct, are not necessarily barred from wearing a security uniform and drawing a public paycheck through a private contractor.
Watchdogs and police-accountability advocates have flagged this kind of gap for years, arguing that the public often assumes uniformed security personnel — especially those working in publicly funded roles — have been vetted to the same standard as police officers. When that assumption doesn’t hold, they say, it undermines public trust and potentially puts communities at risk, particularly if the officers were let go for reasons involving use of force, dishonesty, or other serious conduct issues.
The Company’s Position
Denver7’s reporting is part of the outlet’s “Unchecked Authority” investigative franchise, which has previously examined accountability gaps within Colorado law enforcement and related industries. As with other installments in that series, the latest report puts a spotlight on the responses — or lack thereof — from the parties involved. The specifics of how the security company has responded, and whether it has changed its hiring practices, are central to the ongoing story Denver7 has been reporting on. The broader pattern the series has documented is one in which oversight mechanisms exist on paper but leave enforcement gaps in practice, particularly at the seams between public agencies and the private contractors they rely on.
For Denver residents, the concern isn’t purely theoretical. Cities and public institutions across the metro area have leaned more heavily on private security firms in recent years to patrol parks, transit stations, government buildings, and other public spaces, often as a way to stretch limited law enforcement budgets or respond to specific safety concerns without committing to full police staffing. That reliance means the standards — or lack of them — governing who gets hired into those roles carry real weight for public safety.
Part of a Larger Conversation on Regional Accountability
The Denver7 findings land amid a broader, ongoing conversation in Colorado about how law enforcement and public safety resources are coordinated and overseen. A recent Denver Gazette editorial, published Sept. 16, argued for greater regional cooperation among Colorado law enforcement agencies in fighting crime, suggesting that pooling resources and information across jurisdictions could close some of the gaps that allow problems to fall through the cracks. While that editorial focused on crime-fighting coordination broadly rather than the security-hiring issue specifically, it reflects a similar underlying theme: Colorado’s public safety system is a patchwork of agencies, contractors, and jurisdictions, and inconsistent information-sharing or oversight standards between them can create blind spots.
That patchwork extends to how fired officers’ records follow them — or don’t — when they leave sworn law enforcement altogether. Colorado’s decertification database was designed to close that loop for police departments hiring new officers. Denver7’s investigation suggests the loop remains open when it comes to private security firms operating in publicly funded capacities, an area that hasn’t received the same legislative attention since the 2020 reforms.
What Happens Next
Whether this investigation prompts any policy response from the Colorado Legislature, Denver city officials, or the security industry itself remains to be seen. Denver7’s “Unchecked Authority” series has previously spurred public conversation about accountability gaps in Colorado law enforcement and adjacent industries, and this latest installment adds private security staffing to that list.
For now, the case underscores a tension that’s likely to keep surfacing as cities lean on private contractors to fill public safety roles: taxpayers may reasonably assume that anyone in a security uniform, especially one paid for with public funds, has cleared the same bar as a sworn police officer. Denver7’s reporting suggests that assumption doesn’t always hold — and that closing the gap may require action beyond what Colorado’s existing police accountability laws currently cover.
As this story develops, Front Range Report will continue following any official response from city agencies, the Colorado POST Board, or the security company named in Denver7’s reporting, along with any legislative proposals aimed at extending background-check standards to publicly contracted private security personnel.