{"id":1318032,"date":"2020-02-02T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=993203"},"modified":"2020-02-03T09:58:40","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T16:58:40","slug":"glenwood-springs-chief-of-police-joseph-deras-suits-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/glenwood-springs-chief-of-police-joseph-deras-suits-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Glenwood Springs Chief of Police Joseph Deras suits up"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New Glenwood Springs Police chief Joseph Deras outside the police department.<\/strong>
\nChelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Glenwood Springs Chief of Police Joseph Deras has never skied or snowboarded but does have 28 years of law enforcement experience under his belt.<\/p>\n

Originally from the Los Angeles County area, Deras spent the last 17 years working his way up the ranks from an entry-level officer to a second-in-command captain at the Gilroy Police Department in California\u2019s Bay Area before coming to Glenwood Springs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolicing in California is really at a place right now, which makes it very difficult to enjoy what you\u2019re doing,\u201d Deras said.<\/p>\n

The Golden State\u2019s shifting political climate, crime rate and congestion were among the reasons Deras and his wife wanted to relocate their family to western Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody has been extraordinarily friendly,\u201d Deras said. \u201cWe have this fast pace in California where everybody is in a hurry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deras\u2019 uncle served as the chief of police in Covina, California \u2013 roughly 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles \u2013 and his father worked in the L.A. County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Deras grew up having to respond to his great grandparents and godparents in Spanish, which led to him becoming bilingual.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want people to feel comfortable coming and talking with me,\u201d Deras said. \u201cI found that to be a successful recipe and I want to continue that.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his tenure at the Gilroy Police Department, Deras took on a number of roles.<\/p>\n

As a K9 handler, defensive tactics instructor, gang and narcotics detective and full-time captain, Deras took on a number of situations, too.<\/p>\n

Deras was not on site when a gunman killed three people and injured several others at the Gilroy Garlic Festival on July 28, 2019.<\/p>\n

However, the police captain spent the days following working on the case and ensuring that his colleagues and members of the public who were on site at the time of the shooting received the necessary care and attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been many, many law enforcement instances that were tough to work through,\u201d Deras said.<\/p>\n

Deras\u2019 first day as Glenwood Springs\u2019 chief of police was last Monday.<\/p>\n

Not one for spending too much time behind a desk, Deras often does ride-alongs with officers to better understand their day-to-day concerns and perspectives.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Deras in the coming weeks hopes to reach out to civic, faith-based and other local organizations to foster as many community partnerships as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am as much their police chief as I am the folks I am working with inside the building,\u201d Deras said.<\/p>\n

After 35 years of service, former chief of police Terry Wilson retired last September.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Lt. Bill Kimminau served as interim police chief until Deras\u2019 came on.<\/p>\n

Following a nationwide search, a community meet and greet and interviews with local officials, city manager Debra Figueroa hired Deras in December.<\/p>\n

mabennett@postindependent.com<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Glenwood Springs Police chief Joseph Deras outside the police department. Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Glenwood Springs Chief of Police Joseph Deras has never skied or snowboarded but does have 28 years of law enforcement experience under his belt. Originally from the Los Angeles County area, Deras spent the last 17 years working his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1318032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 02:27:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1318032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1318038,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318032\/revisions\/1318038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1318032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1318032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1318032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}