On July 25 Armando Saldate III took over as the director of the state’s troubled Colorado Bureau of Investigation amid an unprecedented scandal in the agency’s forensic crime lab, where it was discovered a former employee allegedly compromised and altered DNA evidence in criminal cases for years.

CBI has acknowledged finding problems in 1,045 cases once handled by Yvonne Woods in her 29 years as the go-to DNA expert in the lab. Woods, who goes by Missy, now faces 102 felony counts for her alleged manipulation of data. She is awaiting trial.

Saldate, who previously served as Denver Deputy Mayor and executive director of Public Safety, said in an interview on Wednesday he has hope for the future of the agency and is looking forward to implementing the changes needed to restore the public’s trust.

He sat down with The Denver Gazette, as part of a series of news media interviews, to discuss those challenges as well as the ongoing fall-out from the scandal. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Denver Gazette: Why did you take this job leading an agency that has been rocked by so much tension and unrest? Why do that to yourself?

Armando Saldate: First of all, I think I can help. That is something that I’m confident of. What I also know is, no organization — no department — that I’ve been a part of is perfect. I’ve been in some big organizations, from the Phoenix Police Department, to the FBI, to the Denver Sheriff, to Denver Public Safety. What I do know about all of those departments is that they are filled with people who are doing this work for the right reasons, that are committed to excellence, that are committed to serving the community. Also, even with all that has gone on, this is a dream job for me.

DG: But did it give you pause to be heading an agency that has a spotlight on it, that you were jumping into the fire?

Saldate: No. In fact, I went from one very high-profile job (as Public Safety director in Denver) dealing with issues that were front page stories almost daily. So, I am used to that scrutiny. I am used to those expectations. But I did come in eyes wide open. I did come in not ignorant that there were issues here. I was confident, still am, that I can help make change — change for the better.

DG: In July, the consulting firm Forward Resolutions issued a report that was critical of past leadership and also found a continuing problem of poor morale in the lab, a lack of transparency, and an overall mistrust of leaders. How do you change that culture?

Saldate: That is something that is part of my intense focus and my priority. That report was delivered just prior to me getting here. There are some very big recommendations in that report: that folks in the organization weren’t being heard, that there is a morale problem, that there was a lack of confidence in the leadership. I can read the report, and I read the report. The best way for me to affect change is to hear directly from the people. I want to start meeting at the smaller group level with folks because I need to hear directly from them about some of these problems and why they feel the way they do.

DG: What are you hearing so far?

Saldate: What has been very helpful is that I hear this sense of hope — that folks are inspired by the changes that have taken place already. Prior to this report, there was already a full-scope audit of everything and one of the priorities was to close any gaps or holes, so this doesn’t happen again. And that’s been done. I believe folks have seen a good response from lab leadership and CBI leadership and DPS leadership that we are committed fixing and changing this environment.

DG: How?

Saldate: The changes that have been put in place and the transparency that has accompanied those changes is important. If you look at the dashboard now on our website, the (rape kit) backlog dashboard and where we are at, CBI has really done a good job in communicating better throughout this  — better our actions, our response and how we’re doing it.

One of the bigger recommendations from the report is this idea of reallocating the lab division out from CBI. Taking it out from under the leadership of police agencies and law enforcement has been discussed for some time. Forward Resolutions said this will help with the environment here. It would bring it out to its own division within the Colorado Department of Public Safety.

DG: Why is that important?

Saldate: It elevates that voice that it is no longer going through CBI. One of the arguments is that CBI is dictating the prioritization of certain cases depending on investigative priorities versus what is important to the lab.

DG: Where do you stand?

Saldate: I support it. But this needs to be done through the legislature. We have to use this next legislative period to provide that structure, they have to fund it as a division. We would have to build the infrastructure.

DG: How long would it take?

Saldate: Ideally, we could have this set up by July of 2026.

DG: Forward Resolutions made 52 recommendations for improvement. What are your top priorities?

Saldate: No. 1 is creating a new division. The other grouping of priorities are all the recommendations they have around oversight. Making sure this could not happen again. The creation of an ombudsman is one of those top priority ones. How do we show receipts that we have independent oversight showing that we have made changes and we are doing what we should be doing?

DG: There is concern of the appearance of conflict of interest with the state Attorney General’s office, which represents CBI but is also potentially involved in prosecution of impacted cases worked on by Ms. Woods. Would you favor a special counsel?

Saldate: I’m not sure that is necessary. We have independent district attorneys, and they have their own viewpoint, and they will look at cases from through their viewpoint. That is an independent entity watching this.

DG: As of last week, CBI again raised its number of impacted cases to 1,045. Do you anticipate the number to go higher?

Saldate: I don’t know. I don’t anticipate it but I’m not sure we are at 100%. 

DG: What changed between late December, when CBI said its investigation was complete and the number was 1,003 and now?

Saldate: I don’t know specifically about that time period because I wasn’t here then. I think there was a separation between the internal review investigation and the laboratory looking at individual cases. I do think it was separate process. I get the concern. I want to say confidently this is it.

DG: Are you confident that this scandal is confined to just one person? Or could there be others?

Saldate: From what I’ve heard, it is limited to one person. Nothing has been flagged that says this is bigger or outside Missy’s bad actions.

DG: From the beginning, CBI has assured public it will be transparent. But now, almost two years later, we still don’t know specifically what she did. Everything has been couched vaguely as skipped steps or deleted data. Why not release a list of the type of so-called anomalies found and the number of each?

Saldate: There will be a day for that. What we have to respect right now is the ongoing criminal prosecution of Woods. We have to be careful we don’t jeopardize that prosecution or taint a jury pool. Once that is concluded we will not have limitations. We will provide that.