Kozak: Collins Appears To Be Dismantling PD For CFD Revenge
Cheyenne Police Chief Brian Kozak says it looks like Cheyenne Mayor-elect Patrick Collins is determined to dismantle the Cheyenne Police Department to get revenge for a funding dispute between the city and Cheyenne Frontier Days.
The chief made the comments in a letter to the Cheyenne City Council. Collins recently announced that he does not plan to retain Kozak or fire chief Gregg Hoggatt when he assumes office next month.
In the letter, the chief also offered to stay on for 16 months to help the CPD transition to a new police chief. At the end of that time, the chief would leave the department to run for sheriff, according to a letter the chief sent to the Cheyenne City Council.
Kozak asks the council in the letter to intervene with Collins to suggest the transition plan. He says in the letter that Collins has put internal applicants at a disadvantage in applying to be the next police chief by the way he has structured the qualifications for the position in a job posting. Kozak says of Collins "It appears that he is intently dismantling "defunding" CPD out of revenge for Cheyenne Frontier Days; we have 15 employees eligible for retirement and another 7 will be eligible this year. they are panicked and looking for other jobs." The chief goes on to say that morale in the department is low and that CPD employees and the community would like a "time out" to ensure a smooth transition.
Cheyenne Frontier Days and the City of Cheyenne earlier this year had a disagreement about paying for increased security at CFD in light of national mass-shooting incidents around the country. Although a compromise was eventually worked out, some believe that there are some residual hard feelings over the disagreement
You can read the entire letter from Kozak to the city council below.