Vincent Ellis
Vincent Ellis
Transit Police Officer
RETIRED AIR FORCE
One of the best decisions made: joining the Transit Police
Transit Police officer and veteran Vincent Ellis was responsible for the security of Air Force One during his second special assignment while in the service – his military experience prepared him for the mission of serving as a police officer.
“It’s the best decision I made in a long time,” RTD Transit Police (RTD-PD) Officer Vincent Ellis said during his patrol at Denver Union Station. Ellis, a veteran of the Air Force, came out of a 14-month retirement from the Greeley Police Department to join RTD’s police department. “It’s been a fantastic time,” he said of his 15-month tenure with the agency. “To be able to come into an environment where it’s desirous to create a culture with camaraderie, high morale and be inclusive – the positive aspects of a work environment that people are attracted to.”
Prior to joining the Transit Police, Ellis served as a deputy in Greenville County, South Carolina, and an officer at the Greeley and Boulder police departments over a span of 26 years.
Finding the opportunity to become a Transit Police officer came unexpectedly. Ellis was pursuing other career choices out of retirement and had attained a crisis management professional certification and was working his way through FEMA training. The Transit Police officer role popped up on his LinkedIn feed and, with his interest piqued, Ellis dove in to investigate the opportunity.
“RTD wasn’t even on my radar,” Ellis said. “It didn’t even occur to me that I would be willing to commute to Denver from Greeley,” he added. Ellis reached out to other RTD-PD officers on LinkedIn and one agreed to having Ellis ride along on his patrol to see what a day in the life of a Transit Police officer is like.
To learn more, Ellis also spoke to other Transit Police officers, including one who came out of retirement to join the agency. “I wanted to know exactly what I was getting into if I applied and where the Transit Police Department was heading. I heard some great things that kind of encouraged me that made me think, ‘I could probably do this again. I could come out of retirement.’”
Ellis applied for the RTD-PD in December 2023 and landed with the Transit Police Department in April 2024. “I’ve discovered the desire of the people in the line level and the chain of command up to the Chief are demonstrating they want to create a positive, thriving culture,” he said.
Growing up, Ellis knew at age 16 when he was in high school, he was going to go into the Air Force. After his basic training, Ellis enrolled as a security police officer. Unexpectedly, the Air Force Honor Guard from Washington D.C. recruited individuals from the security police program to join the Honor Guard. Out of 300 individuals, Ellis was one of 11 selected for duty. The experience “honed the rough edges off” he said and afterwards he worked a two-year assignment in West Germany before finishing out his enlistment at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.
In Maryland, Ellis carried out his second special duty assignment with the primary mission of maintaining the security of Air Force One and other Special Air Mission aircraft.
Transitioning from the military to civilian life was a challenge. “The day I left the base I remember looking in the rearview mirror and it was like leaving a family member or a parent because they have three squares a day, and medical, dental – all the good stuff,” he said of the stable benefits of military life.
After serving in the Air Force for six years and attaining a Bachelor of Science in Missionary Aviation, Ellis found himself at a crossroads between accepting a job offer from Lockheed Martin in Littleton – or joining the Boulder Police Department as an officer. “Instead of aerospace, I ended up going in law enforcement. And here I am,” Ellis said of his continued vocation as an officer.
The backdrop to Ellis’ decision between aerospace or law enforcement included “the dissolution of the Soviet Union, with military bases closing and a lot of military defense contracts being cancelled at that time. Boeing laid off 25,000 employees.” Ellis also had another major consideration. “It was a calculated career choice to make sure I was able to support my family.”
Ellis continued in his family’s footsteps in pursuing a path of service as a police officer, with his father an officer for the Denver Police Department starting in the 1960s until his retirement in 2000. An uncle and cousin in his family are also officers. “It’s kind of the acorn off the tree thing,” Ellis concluded. “I had positive experiences with the field growing up so that created that desire in the back of my mind that I could do this.”
Ellis appreciates the Transit Police culture in his work as a patrol officer. “The district is 2300- and some odd square miles, so we’re finding ourselves at a lot of different places and we rely on each other,” he said. “This is really a groundbreaking effort to create safety on the system here,” he added of the department’s growth.
He also finds it rewarding to serve as a training officer. “We get to mentor new officers coming into the field as well as lateral officers and create a positive perspective on this agency. It's satisfying when you see a person that you've trained later and they are out there performing at a high level, even to the point to where you can learn things from them,” Ellis said.
During his time in the Honor Guard, Ellis gave tours of the Pentagon – an experience where he learned to interact with different people from all over the world and served as great preparation for his patrols for RTD-PD. He not only monitors Union Station for safety but is a resource for customers, answering questions about where to find the 16th Street FreeRide or how to access a bus in the underground concourse at Union Station reminding him of his days as a tour guide in the service.
Ellis believes that those with military experience will find a good fit with RTD's Transit Police Department. “People who come out of the military have the aspect of anything for the mission. We accomplish something together that fulfills something greater for the purpose of the service.”
Ellis believes that those with military experience will find a good fit with RTD's Transit Police Department. “People who come out of the military have the aspect of anything for the mission. We accomplish something together that fulfills something greater for the purpose of the service.”