Week of July 27, 2026: A Commander and Three Sergeants Across Colorado Resigned Under Investigation or Were Terminated
Welcome to our weekly sum-up. Every Monday we send out a short summary of the last week’s officers that have landed on Colorado’s Peace Officer Standards and Training public database of law enforcement misconduct and actions. These actions from POST are not necessarily only those that have happened in the last week, but all those that have been added, and consist of any other context we could find. Additionally are officers with otherwise obvious misconduct from around the same time.
This week we had almost all high-ranking officers either resigning while under investigation or terminated for cause. We, unfortunately, also did not receive records from any agency yet to give context. As usual, when we receive those documents we will put updates in the next newsletter.
Joseph Connelly (CO-118815)
- Retired while under investigation as a commander with Sheridan Police Department July 20
- The town of Sheridan did not respond to a July 28 CORA request for relevant public records before publishing
- Sheridan PD did not respond to a July 28 request for relevant records before publishing
Sources:
- POST Database
Inayah Cooley (CO-129242)
- Resigned while under investigation as a sergeant with the Aurora Police Department on July 15
- Previously worked as an officer with Aurora PD from 2006 to 2016. City of Aurora redacted her reason for leaving in Cooley’s job application
- Rehired by Aurora PD in 2020.
- Aurora PD did not respond to a request for relevant documents before publishing.
Sources:
- POST Database
- Job application
William Ward (CO-8832-8142)
- Terminated for cause as a sergeant with Johnstown Police Department on July 20
- Johnstown PD did not respond to a request for relevant documents before publishing
- Arrested for obstruction of a peace officer in 2014. Case was dismissed.
- Previous agencies include: Trinidad Police Department
Sources:
- POST Database
- Job application
Chad Gallegos (CO-127487)
- Terminated for cause as a sergeant with Federal Heights Police Department on July 22
- Federal Heights PD did not respond to a request for relevant records before publishing
- Arrested for harassment through striking shoving or kicking in 2009 while a Colorado State Trooper. Case was dismissed by the Jefferson County District Attorney
- Previous agencies include: Colorado State Patrol from 1997 to 2021; Colorado Department of Corrections from 1995 to 1997
Sources:
- POST Database
- Job Application
- Court Records
Alejandro Alvarado (CO-715-003)
- Resigned while under investigation as an officer with the Denver Regional Transportation District Transit Police
- RTD did not respond to a request for relevant records before publishing
Sources:
- POST Database
