Aurora Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky publicly demanded the resignation of Aurora Police Department Interim Chief Heather Morris and several police officers at the end of Monday night’s council meeting, citing incompetence but not providing specifics.

She named officers Brian O’Dell, Tim Meehan, Seth Robertson, Investigations Division Chief Mark Hildebrand and Interim Police Chief Heather Morris, and said they “do not belong in this department.”

Jurinsky called on City Manager Jason Batchelor, who names the Aurora Police Chief and recently named Heather Morris as the interim chief after Chief Art Acevedo left earlier this year, to take action against the five APD members.

“Until these five are no longer in this department, I’m not going to let this issue go,” Jurinsky said. “I’m only going to get louder.”

She then accused Batchelor of ignoring her on the issue and said that if he continues to “try and ignore me on this, there’s someone waiting just around the corner to come out and come full speed.”

“You will not ignore this situation,” she said to Batchelor. “You will deal with this situation.”

Jurinsky did not give specific reasoning for her demand, instead attributing it to “incompetence,” and said the five members she called to resign are a “threat to this city.”

She specifically honed in on how the officers treated victims, again not specifying what she meant.

“Now, not only is it complaints about how criminals are being treated in this city, it is also victims, how we are treating victims,” Jurinsky said.

She addressed the rest of the department as well, saying she would “always, always stand with” them, saying her demand was directly targeted toward the five named officers only. 

She refused to clarify further, and addressed the media by saying: “there’s no reason to reach out to me, a press conference and a lawsuit is coming.”

Batchelor did not respond during the meeting.

A city spokesperson told The Denver Gazette Tuesday that the incident “might be related” to a domestic situation and ongoing investigation involving Jurinsky and the APD.

About three weeks ago, Jurinsky mentioned this on social media, saying she was “involved in a domestic incident,” asking for privacy while she processes the situation. 

“Interim Chief Heather R. Morris extends her deepest compassion and empathy to all crime victims,” the city spokesperson said in an email to The Denver Gazette. “It is the role of a police officer to pursue the justice and safety they deserve, and she appreciates officers’ work in this matter.”

Since the case is ongoing, “the relevant facts, context and court records remain sealed by the court,” the spokesperson said. 

The Denver Gazette has also reached out to Jurinsky, but she had not responded by 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

This is not Jurinsky’s first tussle with Aurora police leadership, with a lawsuit from former police chief Vanessa Wilson naming Jurinsky as part of an effort to wrongfully terminate her.

Wilson’s lawsuit accused Jurinsky and fellow councilmembers Steve Sundberg and Dustin Zvonek of seeking to stop her from pursuing reforms in the police department and pressuring then-City Manager Jim Twombly to fire her.

The letter sent by Wilson’s attorneys at King & Greisen, LLP alleges her firing was retaliation “for her commitment to enforcing the consent decree” and her goal to reform “the long-troubled police department, and end the racist policing practices that had unfortunately become the department’s hallmark.”

“Angered by (Wilson’s) advocacy on behalf of people of color and commitment to eradicate racism in the police department, Jurinsky repeatedly publicly called Chief Wilson ‘trash’ and falsely accused her reforms of making the City, its businesses and its residents ‘unsafe.’,” according to Wilson’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado in March. 

In January 2023, Jurinsky was awarded a $3 million settlement after claiming in a lawsuit that false accusations of child abuse were leveled against her because she was critical of Wilson, according to Denver Gazette news partner 9News. 

Jurinsky filed the defamation lawsuit against Robin Niceta, a former Arapahoe County Department of Human Services (DHS) social worker who she said filed a false child abuse claim against her in what she believed to be retaliation for her critical comments about Wilson, the 9News article reported. Wilson and Niceta were in a relationship at the time.

This story is developing and will be updated.