GEORGETOWN, Colo. — Clear Creek County is known for its miles of scenic landscape and quaint communities such as Idaho Springs and Georgetown.
But in 2022, it became known locally and nationally for a law enforcement agency that had tarnished its reputation.
On June 11, 2022, a Clear Creek County Sheriff’s deputy shot and killed 22-year-old Christian Glass after he had called for help when his car became stuck against an embankment just outside Silver Plume.
Glass suffered a mental health episode after he called for help and refused to exit his car when deputies and other law enforcement officials ordered him out. He had a knife on him that was used for amateur geological work, but a review of the incident determined Glass posed no threat to officers.
The shooting and the events leading up to it were captured on body-worn cameras and broadcast all over the world. It resulted in the largest financial settlement in Colorado history for the Glass family. Four officers were criminally charged and the deputy who fatally shot Glass was convicted of reckless endangerment.
The fallout was immense and helped push the sheriff at the time, Rick Albers, into retirement.
In December 2023, the county found his permanent replacement in Matt Harris.
Upon taking the job, the new sheriff of Clear Creek County vowed to rebuild the department's reputation through transparency and accountability while acknowledging the mistakes of the past.
“Make no mistake about it, the incident and the death of Christian Glass is tragic,” Harris said. “The environment that caused the Christian Glass shooting didn't happen that night. It was an organizational failure from many, many years of not having the right people, the right training, the right quality of people, the right ethics.”
Harris spent nearly 30 years in federal law enforcement and was most recently a U.S. Marshall in Utah.
He said lots of friends and family questioned why he would and to take this job.
“I said I want it because I know I could fix it,” he said.
And to fix it, he needs to build trust with the community and install a new culture inside the sheriff’s office.
“If you make a mistake and you get it wrong, you have to correct the record, you have to correct it immediately. It’s the old adage, the cover-up will kill you,” Harris told Denver7 Investigates in late July. “We're trying to build something in Clear Creek County. We have a checkered past. That's why I was asked to take the job.”
That philosophy was challenged less than a month after that interview when a local dog breeder, 57-year-old Paul Peavey, was reported missing and days later was found dead on his property by a volunteer search party.
Harris later admitted that his department did not do enough when the missing person’s reports were filed.
“It’s disappointing, it’s very disappointing, but it is what it is. We failed, and we know we didn’t handle it correctly,” Harris told Denver7 Investigates in an interview a day after he issued a public apology. “Somebody called our department asking for assistance and we didn’t investigate it thoroughly.”
Two days after that interview, the department announced they had arrested 36-year-old Sergio Ferrer in connection with Peavey’s murder.
“My commitment to our community and the commissioners was that I was going to be transparent, that we were going to bring professionalism and integrity and better police work to Clear Creek County, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Harris said.
As far as rebuilding the department internally, Clear Creek Sheriff’s Office Capt. Seth Marquardt said morale was very low after the Glass shooting.
“It was calls 24-7. I don’t know if I can put a number on it. It was just constant,” he said.
Marquardt said the department faced constant verbal attacks following the shooting, leading to a high number of departures. Marquardt was one of the deputies who stayed.
“A lot of people did a lot of reflecting. Is this worth it anymore? And at the end of the day, for a lot of people the answer was no,” Marquardt said while getting emotional. “You know, it was rough, there were times when I didn't want to be here. But I love what I do. I've been doing it my whole life, and I don't know what else I would do.”
According to information from the Clear Creek Sheriff’s Office, 55 employees, including 29 sworn deputies, have left the department since the Glass shooting. The office has filled 27 of those 55 vacancies.
As he looks to fill some of those open positions, Harris acknowledges that while things are improving, there is still more to do.
“We have a lot of work to do. We've made a lot of progress. We've made a lot more progress than I ever thought we would make in 6 1/2 or seven months, but we have a lot of work to do still,” Harris said.
