Clear Creek County sheriff's "Coffee with a Cop" sets tone for new transparent promise
It's been about two and a half weeks since Matthew Harris officially took over as the Clear Creek County sheriff. He's wasted no time trying to change the public's perception of the sheriff's office, which is currently experiencing a lack of trust after deputies gave the order to breach 22-year-old Christian Glass' car and ended up shooting and killing him.
Monday at The Frothy Cup was all about getting up close and personal with the people Harris swore to protect when he took the job.
"This is our first community relations event," Harris said. "We created a whole new community relations division and we're going to be out there and meeting the public."
Harris has said he expects the sheriff's office to hold a meeting similar to this "Coffee with a Cop" event each month, although it won't always be the sheriff's office buying the community a cup of joe. The intent, however, will be the same.
"This is an absolute priority," Harris said. "There's several priorities we have, but the first one was the outward facing relationship of building with the community and building a social media presence, building relationships one person at a time," Harris explained to your mountain reporter Spencer Wilson.
"We have a lot of work to do," he said.
Harris previously told CBS News Colorado that he planned to meet with Christian Glass's parents, Sally and Simon Glass, to talk about the path forward after the death of their son at the hands of deputies and officers.
"I actually have texted his dad," Harris said. "We're looking to find a time that meets for both of us."
A lot of the frustration from the Glass case came from the misleading initial press release from the former sheriff and the office itself after Glass's death. The body camera footage from that night showed a different version of events than what the sheriff's office had told the public. Harris said that cannot happen again.
"Transparency is paramount," Harris said. "What this office has gone through, we have to be transparent and we have to do better. If we make mistakes -- and we are human, people will make mistakes -- my job is to make sure my folks make fewer and fewer mistakes and we get better."
He believes the road to redemption for his office starts with little steps every day, pushing his team and the culture of the office towards a healthier, "softer" connection with the public, in comparison to what it used to be. He said his staff is on board to make these changes alongside him, and he thinks the public is ready to see a new sheriff's office too.
"There's so many people who said, 'we came out here to let you know that we support your office, that we support law enforcement and what you're doing,'" Harris said. "Every once in a while, things that we could do better, and we could always be better too."
