The Denver Post

POLICE CHIEF NO STRANGER TO SPEEDING TICKETS

“I need to be held accountabl­e like everybody else”

- By Noelle Phillips

Since he arrived in late 2011, Robert White has received four speeding tickets and another ticket after he ran a red light.

Denver’s police chief has a lead foot.

Since he arrived in late 2011, Chief Robert White has received four speeding tickets from photo radar cameras and a ticket from a traffic camera in Aurora after he ran a red light.

The chief also has been involved in two preventabl­e collisions.

For all of these driving infraction­s, White twice has been reprimande­d by his superiors. And he has always paid his fines.

The Denver Post obtained White’s internal affairs records earlier in April after Mayor Michael Hancock announced the chief would not face punishment for his role in the mishandlin­g of an open records request or for chasing a driver who struck the chief’s department-issued vehicle in a hitand-run collision. White announced his retirement last Tuesday, although no official date has been set.

The hit-and-run was White’s third traffic crash since he was named chief, and it is the only one in which he was not found at fault.

When asked about his driving record, White — who answered the phone while driving to an appointmen­t — said he had paid the tickets as any other resident would.

“I need to be held accountabl­e like everybody else,” White said. “I don’t know what else to say.”

White went on to accuse a reporter of only writing negative stories about his tenure as chief, and then he grew frustrated as he missed multiple turns while talking on the phone.

In the grand scheme of police department scandals, a few speeding tickets and fender

 ?? Provided by the City and County of Denver ?? Denver Police Chief Robert White is seen behind the wheel in a radar-van photo taken Nov. 9, 2016, when he was caught going 41 mph in a 30 mph zone.
Provided by the City and County of Denver Denver Police Chief Robert White is seen behind the wheel in a radar-van photo taken Nov. 9, 2016, when he was caught going 41 mph in a 30 mph zone.

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