02.10.22 POP Meeting NotesBoulder Police Oversight Panel
Meeting Minutes
February 10, 2022
I. Announcement of public comment period on panel by -laws
Public comment will begin February 11 – March 02 on website. Press
release will go out February 11 AM. Co-chairs will receive comments.
Documents are in SharePoint.
II. Resignation of panel member Suzy Gordon
Suzy announced resignation and thanks everyone for the experience.
Panel and monitor expressed their gratitude for Suzy’s participation.
Next alternate will be appointed as soon as possible to the panel.
III. Committee reports
a. Legacy Review Committee
Committee met to establish mission, purpose, goals and plan.
What data is available (how far back)? How does committee receive
input from community members? Resources fo r data analysis?
Panel input of framing by police chief history.
Monitor offered that any data police have or have produced is
available to panel per the ordinance. Monitor has direct access and
can run reports.
Panel member added that this research should be community driven.
Committee could use assistance on how to bring in the community,
online forum, round table? City Engagement team is available to
assist with community outreach.
b. Community Outreach & Communications Committee
Committee is working on bylaws and how to move forward.
City communications department can meet to give overview of tools
available. Monitor to reach out to set that meeting up, last week of
February 2022.
Monitor proposes meeting with City attorney’s office to esta blish
whether committee meetings should be open to public. Committee
meetings will remain open to public, use the city’s Zoom account via
monitor and will be recorded.
IV. Monitor’s report
a. Upcoming panel meetings
i. Chief of Police – February 23
b. Request for legal memo on appealing cases to city manager
c. MOU on notification to monitor of critical incidents
d. Annual Report (March 2022)
e. Report on outcome of case reviews
i. MI2021-047: A complainant alleged that an officer falsely
imprisoned him and fabricated evidence against him. In 2018,
an officer applied for an arrest warrant for an individual who
had allegedly violated a Temporary Protection Order.
However, the TPO had not yet been served on the assaulting
party. Therefore, the arrest warrant was technically invalid.
The assaulting party was arrested on the invalid warrant and
lodged in the Denver jail. The panel reviewers sustained the
allegation and concluded that the officer violated department
policy G.O. 313-3 (C) by failing to confirm that the TPO had
been served and causing an invalid warrant to be issued. The
subject officer is no longer a Boulder Police officer; thus, no
discipline could be implemented. However, panel reviewers
recommended that the BPD provide a training reminder to
officers on the importance of confirming service of an order
before applying for a warrant. The department sustained the
allegation and issued the training reminder to officers.
ii. MI2021-048: An internal complaint alleged that an officer
included language in a police report that did not accurately
reflect what witnesses had stated. The panel reviewers
concluded that the officer did violate the department’s policy
on report writing by including language in the report that was
not said by the witnesses. The reviewers examined the
evidence closely and concluded that the violation did not
appear to be malicious nor an intentional effort by the officer
to misrepresent the facts of the case as the of ficer understood
them. The reviewers sustained the allegation and
recommended a one-day suspension for the officer. The final
determination in this case is pending and will be reported out
next month.
f. Monthly case statistics
i. Three complaints and two community inquiries were filed in
January
ii. So far in February, two complaints and two community
inquiries have been filed
iii. There are currently 15 open investigations
V. Panel selection of cases to review
The panel reviewed the summaries of the complaints filed in December.
The panel voted on whether to conduct a full review of each case. The
panel elected to conduct a full case file review of cases #SM2022-001,
#MI2022-001.
VI. Public Comment
Member of public complained about her technical issues getting logged
on to Police town hall. Aired her frustration with community issues.