Police Reforms
While Boulder describes its police department as forward looking, it releases less data and information than many other police departments and therefore lacks the accountability that is the hallmark of reimagined and progressive departments. The city should commit to accountability reforms so that there is objective data which is publicly accessible and allows the community to accurately judge the city’s goal of just and equitable policing.
Meaningful Reforms in Transparency
Ensure JTTF Accountability or Divestment: In 2022, at a time when other cities were terminating partnerships with the FBI joint terrorism task force (JTTF) in light of widespread abuses of civil liberties including infiltrating and spying on progressive organizations, the city of Boulder instead signed onto a new JTTF agreement with the FBI. As an accountability mechanism, city council required BPD to report annually on the activities of the JTTF that BPD officers have been involved with. The actual agreement the city entered into with the FBI did not contain that requirement, and instead stated only that “the FBI will provide an annual update on the JTTF to the City of Boulder Council.” It does not appear that BPD has provided any annual report on the activities of its officers as part of the JTTF as required, and it does not even appear that the FBI has complied with its less-stringent-than-required agreement to provide any update at all. An article that describes JTTF abuses can be found here: https://boulderweekly.com/news/joining-forces/
Release Police Stop Data by Race: For a brief period after the Zaid Atkinson incident and the Goerge Floyd protests, BPD released ongoing data showing the race of persons their officers stopped. They quietly ended the practice of making the data public in August 2020. The city should require BPD to resume releasing this data to the public, because it is the only objective way for the public to understand the extent of racial profiling.
Release Use of Force Data: In early 2022, BPD released use-of-force data for 2021 and stated that use of force should decrease in the future based on newly implemented training. The public does not know if that training is effective before BPD has not updated its use-of-force data. Other cities, including Denver and Aurora, publish this data on an ongoing basis. The city should require annual updates to the published use-of-force data.
Release Police Bodycam Footage*: The city of Boulder should release unedited bodycam footage of police shootings free of charge within 21 days. In 2020, Colorado’s legislature enacted the Law Enforcement Integrity Act, requiring the release of bodycam footage to the public within 21 days of a complaint against an officer for use of force. The city, however, requires persons requesting such footage to pay, in one instance, over $8,000, making the promise of release of this footage as a public check on police misconduct illusory, because citizens don’t have the resources to pay for such videos. The city would honor the spirit of the 2020 law to make such video public if it released it free of charge. Doing so is money well spent to ensure public trust that when the police use force, the force used is justified. Putting barriers in place such as four-figure fees has the opposite effect - it leads the public to believe that the city is trying to hide the actions of BPD from public view.