Morrison PD gave Richard Norton a second chance, then he was arrested. Here’s how the town is responding.

MORRISON, Colo. — This time last year, the Morrison Police Department had just promoted Richard Norton to sergeant. Now, Norton is on unpaid administrative leave following an Oct. 4 arrest by Longmont Police on charges of domestic violence, child abuse and unlawful storage of a firearm.

Rocky Mountain PBS previously reported on Norton’s history as a police officer in a story about officers who resign while under investigation and move on to work at a different agency. In a March interview with Rocky Mountain PBS, Morrison Police Chief Bill Vinelli said he wanted to give the officer another chance.

Until the arrest earlier this month, Vinelli said there were no issues with Norton’s performance on the force. Rocky Mountain PBS asked Vinelli if he feels the same way he did earlier this year about his decision to give Norton a second chance.

“I can’t go back on what I said [in March.] I'm not going to walk back my comments. People's lives happen from day to day,” Vinelli said.

“I don't have the report. It was not my agency that did it. I know as much about what's going on as you do, with the exception that he was one of my employees.”

Norton had a lawsuit and workplace sexual harassment investigation on his record when the Morrison Police Department hired him in January 2023.

The Canyon Courier first reported Norton’s arrest earlier this month in Longmont on charges of domestic violence, child abuse and unlawful storage of a firearm. The Longmont Police Department denied Rocky Mountain PBS’s request for Norton’s arrest records.

“I asked our police chief [why we hired Norton] and Chief Vinelli said, ‘I stand by this guy. He's fine. It's going to be okay,’" said Paul Sutton, who has served on Morrison’s board of trustees for six years. 

Sutton felt disappointed by the news of Norton’s arrest but not surprised. Sutton had concerns about Norton when he first joined the agency after hearing about his conduct at the Broomfield Police Department, where he worked before joining the Morrison department

“I trusted our chief at that point,” Sutton said. “Now I am thinking maybe our chief’s judgment isn't as good as I thought it was because of this situation with Norton.”

In 2019, while at the Broomfield Police Department, Norton was a defendant in a lawsuit brought against the city which claimed Norton and another officer mishandled the arrest of a 15-year-old girl with disabilities, using force that exacerbated her medical condition.

The city settled that lawsuit in 2021 for $140,000.

In April 2022, the Broomfield Police Department placed Norton on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation, which ultimately determined that Norton sent inappropriate and unwanted sexual messages to several of his female coworkers.

Norton resigned in July 2022 and was hired at the Morrison Police Department about six months later. 

“I wasn't thrilled about it,” Sutton said. “My inclination was, ‘Why are we hiring this dude? Come on, man, this is crazy. I don't want to hire him.’”

The Morrison Police Department plans to wait until Longmont Police completes its investigation before making a decision about his employment.

Vinelli said he is not reconsidering his department’s hiring practices.

“I don't control what my officers can do and what they do on their off time,” Vinelli said. “I can't hold their hand 24 hours a day. I have a very high moral and ethical way I want my officers to conduct themselves on and off duty, but I can't control what they do. So it has nothing to do with our hiring practices.”

Morrison town manager Mallory Nassau said she’s thinking about reevaluating the town’s hiring standards for police officers. Nassau became town manager in July. She was not in the position when Norton was hired last year.

“We want to make sure that all of our officers have demonstrated core values that speak to a positive character much more than what you just see on paper, so we will be assessing that,” Nassau said.

Nassau said she especially wants to review the town’s policy for hiring officers from other departments, or “lateral transfers,” who are already certified by the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board (POST.)

Norton’s hiring is an example of a lateral transfer.

“I think that maybe there's this ease with hiring lateral officers, not just for the town of Morrison, but statewide, where it's easy [because] they've already been through POST,” Nassau said. “While it's a good tool, we also want to ensure that we're holding them to a high standard.”