GEORGETOWN, Colo. — Clear Creek County Sheriff Matt Harris inherited a department in crisis when he stepped into the department’s top job in December 2023.
The office was still reeling from the June 2022 shooting death of Christian Glass that saw multiple deputies face charges and pushed former Sheriff Rick Albers into retirement.
Harris entered the department on a mission to rebuild the culture and rehab the image of his new office.
But now, Harris is moving on.
He recently accepted a job as police chief and vice chancellor at University of Colorado Anschutz to be closer to his home.
However, Harris said he is proud of his time in the sheriff’s office.
“I am very happy with where we are at,” Harris said in an exclusive interview with Denver7 Investigates on Wednesday. “I am very happy we have the people in place. It was not easy, right? But it took a full commitment. … It really was a total rebuild.”
Watch the interview with the sheriff in the video below.
Harris’ tenure had its difficulties as well. Within the first few months as sheriff, he admitted the department made mistakes investigating the death of Paul Peavey after a missing person report was called in before Peavey’s body was found.
“We are an imperfect people,” he said at the time. “We will make mistakes but you have to be honest to the public. You have to have integrity and say we got it wrong.”
But he said that accountability helped him build trust with his team and the community.
“You do it one day at a time, one step, one policy at a time, one hire at a time,” Harris said. "We put our blood, sweat and tears into rebuilding this organization and there's really, really good people here and I'm really happy with where we are at.”
When asked for a headline for his time as sheriff, Harris replied, “It reads, ‘Sheriff''s office rebuild is a success.’ … Has been a success, but it's still ongoing.”
