Daniel J. Oates (born January 2, 1955) is the former Police Chief of

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and artificial island, man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the ...

. He is also the former Police Chief of Aurora, Colorado He was also formerly the Chief of Police and Safety Services Administrator for the City of

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

, Michigan. Oates was appointed Chief of Police on August 20, 2001 after serving 21 years in the

New York Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

. In August 2002, Oates became Ann Arbor's first Safety Services Administrator. He is a charter member of the federal Criminal Intelligence Coordinating Council. While with the Aurora Police Department, he was responsible for the criminal investigation of a 2012 mass shooting at a local movie theater, which was one of the largest mass shootings in American history.

Personal life

Oates was born in

Hackensack, New Jersey Hackensack is a city in and the county seat of Bergen County, New Jersey, United States.New Jers ...

. He lived in nearby

Oradell Oradell is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough's population was 8,244,, an increase of 266 from the 2010 census count of 7,978.Midland Park, New Jersey, where he attended grade school at Nativity School. When Oates was 14 years old, he reached the rank of Eagle Scout, the Boy Scouts of America's highest rank. He received the award from a Troop chartered to the Church of the Nativity in Midland Park. Oates is married and has two adult daughters.

Education

Oates attended Saint Joseph Regional High School and graduated in 1973. He received his bachelor's degree at Bucknell University where he majored in English. At Bucknell, he was the newspaper and yearbook editor. He went on to receive his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

''cum laude'' from New York Law School in June 1986 and to receive a master's degree from New York University. Oates is licensed to practice law in Colorado, New York, and New Jersey.

Career

After graduating from Bucknell University, Oates took a job as a reporter for the ''

Atlantic City Press ''The Press of Atlantic City'' is the fourth-largest daily newspaper in New Jersey. Originally based in Pleasantville, it is the primary newspaper for southeastern New Jersey and the Jersey Shore. The newspaper designated market runs from Wa ...

''. While covering courts, he became interested in a career as a police officer. Oates began that career with the New York Police Department. He walked a beat in New York's 19th precinct, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. He worked his way up the ladder, and later held the position of second of command of New York's Brooklyn South Patrol Borough. In this position, he was in charge of 3,000 police officers and 700 civilians. He also served as commanding officer of the legal bureau of the New York City Police Department Cadet Corps. By the end of his 21-year career, Oates had become head of intelligence for the department. There, he was part of the executive staff of Howard Safir, the New York City Police Commissioner. He also arranged security for the Millennium Summit and was also in charge of U.S. presidential security arrangements. AACityHall

Oates took the helm of the Ann Arbor Police Department in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the summer of 2001. Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje credited his newly hired police chief for mitigating attacks on Muslims after the

9/11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

. Oates oversaw the emergency and fire department in addition to the police department. Due to budget concerns, Oates reduced the size of Ann Arbor's fire and police departments by 20%. At the same time he helped reduce the violent crime rate by 24%. Hieftje also noted that his straightforward management style was an asset to the department. Oates left Ann Arbor and became the police chief in Aurora, Colorado, in 2005 after the former chief, Ricky Bennett, was demoted for his department's failure to stop Brent J. Brents from committing sex crimes. Oates began his career in Aurora by building up a relationship between the police department and minority communities, specifically focusing on the black community whose members felt that the police force was used against minorities. During his first five years in Aurora, he oversaw a 30% decrease in the crime rate. Oates is currently teaching an online course in Constitutional law for

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university with two main campuses, LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It offers more than 500 academic programs at its main campuses, online, and at multiple non-residential. LIU ...

Theater shooting

Oates was the chief of police in Aurora at the time of a mass shooting at the midnight showing of '' The Dark Knight Rises''. In a remark on the

booby trap A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise a human or another animal. It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim and sometimes has some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. The trap m ...

s in the suspect's apartment, Oates stated that the apartment was rigged "to kill whoever entered it". He expanded on this by saying, "It was going to be a police officer...We sure as hell are angry." When asked about the strength of the case against the alleged shooter, Oates responded, "We will convict him. Yes."

Positions held

*Former president of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police *Chairperson of the Colorado Information Sharing Consortium *Member of Police Executive Research Forum *Member of the Criminal Intelligence Coordinating Council

Awards

Oates received the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police Ralph Smith Innovation Award in 2008. Oates received his Eagle Scout Award in 1969.

References

External links

Profile
at Aurora PD Facebook page
Dan Oates talks about the shooting
video at 9news.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Oates, Dan 1955 births Living people People from Hackensack, New Jersey People from Oradell, New Jersey People from Midland Park, New Jersey Saint Joseph Regional High School alumni Bucknell University alumni New York Law School alumni New York University alumni New York City Police Department officers American municipal police chiefs People from Ann Arbor, Michigan People from Aurora, Colorado People from Miami Beach, Florida