DENVER — A Denver security company paid millions of dollars by local governments hired fired police officers, including one former Aurora cop who later worked taxpayer-funded prisoner watch jobs in the same city that fired him.
Denver7 Investigates has found that the City of Aurora has contracted with Denver Metro Security for a variety of jobs, paying the company roughly $3 million since 2023. City invoices show the company assigned a fired Aurora police officer to conduct prisoner watches for the Aurora Police Department to guard people in custody while they are in the hospital.
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And now, one Aurora Councilman is questioning how this happened and wondering if enough oversight exists.
“Seventy-five dollars an hour for somebody who we decided could no longer be employed by the Aurora Police Department, that raises real questions for me,” said Councilman Curtis Gardner, who noticed the name Jordan Odneal on an invoice shown to him by Denver7 Investigates.
“I have a real problem with taxpayers still paying that individual in another capacity. ” Gardner added.
Odneal was fired by Aurora Police after he claimed overtime pay that was unauthorized in 2020. He was also involved in an excessive force lawsuit in 2017 that resulted in a $335,000 settlement.
Last year, Odneal was fired by the Lochbuie Police Department after he was accused of “failing to provide truthful and accurate statements,” according to internal affairs records.
“They’re allowing people that have problems to come to work here,” said Kevin Heely, a former Denver Metro Security contractor who came forward as a whistleblower to accuse the company of unethical practices.
Denver7 Investigates first reported on Denver Metro Security earlier this month after learning that the company worked security on construction jobs using cars that were registered in Montana. The cars also displayed red and blue lights while on the job, which is illegal according to Colorado State Patrol because the cars are not registered to a local law enforcement agency.
Since Denver7 Investigates started looking into the company, it has since switched back to Colorado license plates, with the company saying it “updated its practices.” Insiders said the company used Montana plates as a way to avoid paying higher registration fees in Colorado, a practice known as the Montana loophole. Recent video from earlier this month showed the company was still using red and blue lights, however.
“I have a real, real problem if they are going around Colorado registration laws to register in another state just to save a buck,” Gardner said.
Outsourcing prisoner watches
Watching prisoners in custody while they’re in the hospital is one of multiple security jobs the City of Aurora hired Denver Metro Security to perform. One expert said it’s a way for the department to save money.
“Often law enforcement agencies will hire contractors, usually security departments, to stand by the security of that individual until they're cleared,” former Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock told Denver7 Investigates. “Sometimes it's just more cost-effective manpower wise to hire a security department to do it than it is to pull an officer off the street.”
In Aurora, the city has hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts with Denver Metro Security for prisoners watches over the past three years.
Invoices show that Odneal worked a prisoner watch at Children’s Hospital in April. Four days later, he worked another prisoner watch, this time for Lakewood police at St. Anthony Hospital.
After Denver7 Investigates contacted Lakewood police, a spokesperson said the department has opened an internal review into its contract with Denver Metro Security.
Denver7 Investigates also obtained invoices from the Town of Parker, which spent more than $95,000 on prisoner watches. A Parker police spokesperson said the department only uses private security for prisoner watches on “very rare occasions.”
Not the only fired officer
Odneal wasn’t the only fired officer working for Denver Metro Security. Aurora invoices show a former Denver police officer who was fired in 2024 also did prisoner watch work in the city.
Scot Perischette was one of three Denver officers fired after text messages circulated with the officers joking about going to immigrant shelters for “target practice.”
It’s another name that concerned Gardner.
“Somebody who was fired by a law enforcement agency now being paid by the City of Aurora by our tax dollars, I have concerns with that,” he said.
Denver7 Investigates has confirmed that Persichette now works as an officer for Keensburg police. The department declined to comment for this story.
Spurlock said that while it’s not illegal for a security company to hire a fired police officer, it’s still important for departments to know who they are trusting with people in custody.
“It’s always a concern when law enforcement is subcontracting their responsibilities,” he said. “You don’t always know who you have that’s going to be representing you.”
Denver7 Investigates did confirm that both Odneal and Persichette had the state certifications the City of Aurora said were required to conduct prisoner watches within the city.
“They need to do their due diligence”
The practice of hiring fired officers did not come as a surprise to the former insiders who spoke to Denver7 Investigates.
“They think they’re untouchable,” Heely said of the company.
Former sales director Dwight Berry said the cities who hire Denver Metro Security also have to take more responsibility and ask questions about who is taking on these assignments.
“It's taxpayer dollars, and they need to do their due diligence,” Berry said.
Gardner added that he knew nothing of the contracts and questioned how the millions of dollars in spending was approved, wondering if those contracts were structured to avoid Council oversight.
“I think if we are stacking low-dollar contracts to fall below the council approval threshold, that might be something that we need to look at,” he said.
An Aurora spokesperson told Denver7 Investigates that a review found the process was consistent with city purchasing policies.
“Staff’s review of readily accessible city records and data indicate that approval processes used in selecting Denver Metro Security Services (DMSS) to provide services to various city departments in various capacities over the last few years have been consistent with established city purchasing policies and practices in place over that period,” the statement read.
Denver7 Investigates requested an interview with Aurora City Manager Jason Batchelor. He was not available, but the city further defended its contracts with Denver Metro Security and said that it's the company's responsibility to background it's employees and contractors.
“In practice, it remains incumbent upon any city vendor — the vendor alone — to vet and hire appropriate staff to provide the agreed-upon level of service the city expects. In this case, the city has had agreements with Denver Metro Security Services as an entity, not individual security personnel, to provide services,” a city spokesperson stated in an email. “To date, city staff have not reported any service delivery issues with the vendor or its assigned personnel.”
Odneal responded to a text message after Denver7 Investigates reached out, but he did not comment for this report.
Denver Metro Security leadership did not respond to multiple emails, phone calls or text messages for this story.
