by George Gramlich
Over coffee at the 16th Street Cafe last week, I asked Cañon City Police Department Deputy Chief Allen Cooper what got him interested in law enforcement. It was an interesting short story. When he was around 20 years old he had a hot rod Ford Galaxy 500 and was speeding quite a lot with it around Fremont County. He was stopped for speeding (the third time in a short while) by a Colorado State Patrol Trooper. Instead of a ticket, the trooper gave Allen the “fatherly” lecture on where he was headed in life and that he has a couple of alternatives to consider. That trooper’s talk planted a seed in Allen that sprouted several years later.
Allen grew up on a family farm in Illinois and moved to Cañon City in 1969 when he was 16 years old. He excelled in scholastics (National Honor Society) and was a member of the track and rifle teams at Cañon City High.
After graduating from high school, Allen got into the construction trades and eventually was hired by the Colorado Springs Supply Company where he worked his way up to be the general manager of their contract hardware division.
During the 1970’s Allen had also become a volunteer (posse member) of the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office and then became a reserve officer for the Cañon City Police Department.
Finally, in 1988, he applied, and was accepted, as a police officer with the Cañon City Police Department (CCPD).
During the course of his career at CCPD, Allen supervised every division of the department eventually becoming Deputy Chief in January of 2016. He served as patrol officer, patrol sergeant, investigator, sergeant of investigations, patrol commander, commander of support services, range officer, SWAT operator, SWAT sniper and SWAT commander. He also attended the FBI National Academy, Session 247, in 2011.
Mr Coooper was also heavily involved in several inter-agency teams including the Fremont County Combined Investigative Response Team (CIRT) comprised of investigators from CCPD, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office and the Florence Police Department. Allen also was a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children group, a collaboration team with the Colorado Springs Police Department.
Today, he is working with a host of local groups in trying to create a Child
Advocacy Center in Fremont County.
Allen wants to apply his vast experience at all levels of law enforcement to put the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) back on the path of excellence in policing. There have been a lot of issues with the FCSO over the last few years, and a change in leadership now is an opportunity for an experienced and grounded new sheriff to “right the ship”. One thing Mr. Cooper noted in our talk, is that he is a firm believer in hiring people based on character and not job skills or “skill set”. He stated that character is the essential quality one needs in a police officer, in fact, in all law enforcement personnel.
Allen can be contacted at 719 431-0687 or via email at allencooperforsheriff@gmail.com. His campaign website is AllenCooperforSheriff.com and you can visit his Facebook page at Allen Cooper for Fremont County Sheriff. Donations to help elect Allen Cooper to be Fremont County’s next Sheriff can be sent to: Att: Valerie Lehne, 1502 Park Avenue, Cañon City, 81212. Please make your checks out to: Committee to Elect Allen Cooper Sheriff.
(Editor/GG: Based on Allen Cooper’s deep experience in all levels of law enforcement – from patrol officer, to Deputy Chief – his vision for the future for the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, the stellar recommendations by fellow law enforcement officers, and his decades long commitment to the people of Fremont County, the Sangre de Cristo Sentinel wishes to endorse his candidacy for Sheriff. Folks, he knows law enforcement top-to-bottom, he knows the community, and he has a tremendous record of real life accomplishments not only at CCPD but also in many local non-law enforcement endeavors. One would be hard pressed to find a better candidate to be the next Fremont County Sheriff. Vote for Allen Cooper for Sheriff. It’s a vote for excellence and performance.)