Marco Vasquez has served in Colorado law enforcement for the past four decades. Rising through the ranks at the Denver, Colorado, Police Department (DPD), Chief Vasquez retired as the deputy chief of administration after a 36-year career with DPD in 2008. Chief Vasquez gained extensive experience throughout his career in internal affairs investigations, drug enforcement, and patrol operations and was responsible for an approximate $176,000,000 budget. Chief Vasquez went on to become chief of police for the Sheridan, Colorado, Police Department until 2010. He briefly left local law enforcement in 2011 to become the first chief of investigations for the newly created Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division for the Colorado Department of Revenue and served in this capacity until 2013. Chief Vasquez then went on to be the chief of police for the Town of Erie, Colorado, Police Department and retired in 2016 after more than 40 years as a sworn Colorado law enforcement officer.

Throughout his career, Chief Vasquez has been a strong advocate of community policing and has implemented the community policing philosophy in the agencies in which he has been associated. Chief Vasquez has assisted the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) in developing the “CACP Marijuana Position Paper” and the Police Foundation in developing the Colorado’s Legalization of Marijuana and the Impact on Public Safety-A Practical Guide for Law Enforcement publication.

Chief Vasquez graduated with a master’s degree in Management from Regis University and is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP), and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). Chief Vasquez has also graduated from PERF’s Senior Management Institute in Policing (SMIP) and the IACP Leadership in Police Organizations (LPO) course.