A former top law enforcement official in Colorado with a controversial career history and a connection to the FBI was recently fired for cause by the agency he previously led.

Joel Fitzgerald, the former chief of the Regional Transit District Police Department in Denver who was fired from that position in September over alleged ethical violations, according to local NBC affiliate KUSA, appears to still be the president of the FBI's Law Enforcement Executive Development Association.

Notably, Fitzgerald's biography on the FBI association's website makes no mention of his recent "termination for cause" or that he had previously been fired as the chief by another large law enforcement agency in Texas, or that he has been involved in multiple lawsuits against those agencies.

Fitzgerald was fired for alleged ethical violations

KUSA reported this week that Fitzgerald, who was placed on administrative leave in July and fired in September, was confirmed to have been terminated for multiple ethical violations despite an initial hesitance by the RTD to disclose the reason why he was "no longer the chief of police," as the department first stated when questions were asked.

Thanks to Colorado's open records law, however, Fitzgerald's four-page termination letter, written by RTD's General Manager and CEO Debra Johnson on September 20, has now been publicly revealed and outlines several allegations of ethical violations that were "substantiated" by an independent third-party investigator.

Some of those violations include excessive speeding in an RTD vehicle on dozens of occasions, approving a business trip paid for by a vendor that had been rejected for ethics reasons by the department, attempting to purchase firearms with an RTD expense card, interfering in internal investigations, crafting a policy that discouraged others from seeking legal guidance, authorizing others to use RTD vehicles for personal use, and continuing to hire new officers after being informed that RTD was over-budget, among other things.

The letter stated that Fitzgerald's firing was the result of an investigation into his "alleged misconduct" and the investigator's conclusion that he "more likely than not" had "violated multiple RTD policies and did not adhere to RTD values."

"The investigator further determined that you disregarded the concerns of subordinates and business partners and engaged in a practice of disregarding the larger agency as well as the agency's policies, procedures and practices," as well as that he saw himself and the department as "above policy," Johnson wrote, and concluded that his actions were "unequivocally unacceptable as the Chief of Police."

Lawsuits in response to getting fired

In response to the firing, CPR News reported that Fitzgerald has now filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against RTD that accuses the department of racial discrimination, breach of contract, and retaliation for his prior filing of racism complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

RTD and the local police union, which also faced accusations in the suit, have disputed the allegations and maintain that Fitzgerald was simply a bad chief who didn't follow the rules and was thus fired for cause.

Interestingly enough, a report in August from local Texas outlet KTVZ revealed that Fitzgerald was set to possibly receive upwards of $5 million from the Fort Worth Police Department following the settlement of a lawsuit he filed against them.

Fitzgerald had previously served as the chief of that department but was fired in May 2019 for a reported "lack of good judgment, and a track record of putting himself before the city." He argued in his suit that he was wrongfully fired as retaliation for allegedly blowing the whistle on the department's alleged misuse of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services database.

Still in charge of FBI-affiliated nonprofit executive board

Ironically enough, local Fox affiliate KDVR reported in May that then-Chief Fitzgerald had been elected to serve as president of the FBI-LEEDA's executive board, placing him in charge of the nonprofit that provides federal leadership and management training and resources to law enforcement agency executives at the local, state, and federal levels.

As noted, Fitzgerald's bio on the FBI-linked nonprofit's executive board's page, which still lists him as the president, only briefly denotes that he was the chief in Fort Worth from 2015-2019 but doesn't mention that he was fired or filed a lawsuit, and further only highlights that he was the chief of Denver's RTD from 2022 "until his departure in September of 2024," without revealing his termination or lawsuit.