The executive director of Denver’s Civil Service Commission was fired Tuesday for claiming the city was lowering its safety standards to fill open spots in the police and fire departments due to political pressure from the mayor’s office.

Niecy Murray claimed she was unfairly let go after she raised the alarm that the city was cutting corners to hire unqualified applicants due to a quota put in place by Democratic Mayor Mike Johnston’s office. In her role as head of Denver’s Civil Service Commission, Murray evaluated candidates for the city’s police and fire departments.

Murray alleged that the minimum score that police and fire recruits must meet was lowered in 2020 and that she was recently asked to lower it again. When she refused, she was fired, she said.

Her concerns echo those of other critics who claim that Johnston’s push to keep a campaign promise, which included hiring 167 police officers, could mean that a new class of recruits is not as qualified to handle the rigors of the job. Being ill-prepared could not only put the public at risk but also themselves, they warned.

“I’ve really felt, especially in the last several months, that there has been a push to ignore some red flags, to give opportunity to try to figure out later whether these individuals will be successful,” Murray said. “From where I sit, that’s not the way that we go about it.”

In one case, the commission pushed through a candidate who failed the psychological exam, she said.

Johnston “has made it clear that he will not back off of the staffing numbers he set in his campaign,” Murray added.

Denver police have been struggling to fill recruitment classes for years. Last year, the department was budgeted for 188 recruits but only hired 124, according to Axios. Murray claimed the mayor’s administration asked officials to drop the minimum exam score for entry-level police to 60%, down from 65% in 2023, and 70% in 2019.

Murray said police academy staff have shared their frustrations over hiring less qualified people with her.

“If you show up with a pulse, you’re in there,” she said.

Several city council members, including Shontel Lewis, Sarah Parady, and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, said they believe Murray after hearing similar complaints themselves.

“The public’s trust is placed in us to ensure standards for safety are being met,” Murray said during a press conference. “The role of the Civil Service Commission is far too important to be diminished to one which is strictly performative. … I refused to allow myself to just be a pawn in this system.”

Civil Service Commission Board Chairman Amber Miller disputed Murray’s allegations and said she wasn’t dismissed because she spoke out about hiring practices but rather because the decision was made after “weeks of deliberation.”

“Unfortunately, Ms. Murray’s claims to the press this morning appeared to have been a preemptive attempt to block or influence her release,” Miller said in a written statement. “These developments have not deterred us from our course of action, and we have separated Ms. Murray from her position.”

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The mayor’s office has tried to distance itself from the allegations, releasing a statement that reads: “The Civil Service Commission is an independent agency, meaning it operates separately from the city. The city has no say over their decisions.”

However, three of the appointees on the five-member Board of Commissioners were handpicked by the mayor’s office.