Following political controversy and a months-long pause in its work, Boulder now has a new ordinance outlining the composition, duties and powers of the city’s police oversight panel.
“One of the conversations I had in the beginning was, if I asked ten different people about the purpose of the panel, I got ten different answers,” Farah Muscadin, the consultant who oversaw the revisions said during Thursday’s city council meeting.
According to the new ordinance,the purpose of the panel is to improve policing in Boulder by reviewing complaints, recommending discipline and suggesting training.
In what Muscadin referred to as a “big change,” Boulder’s city manager is now in charge of appointing panelists, with community input. Previously, the city council appointed the volunteers.
Two spots on the panel are now reserved for students. Current or former law enforcement are ineligible to join. Panelists are not required to be U.S. citizens. All members are required to get training on topics including police department policies and the history of police civilian oversight.
The city manager is required to consider qualities in potential panelists such as “strong ties to the city of Boulder” and “the ability to be fair-minded, objective and impartial.”
“We hopefully reached a point of satisfaction with what we’re going to propose to you,” Muscadin said during her presentation to city council members. “Perfection was never the goal.”
Boulder’s volunteer police watchdog group was created in 2020. In May, the city council voted to remove one of the panel’s members over allegations of anti-police bias. Then, the city was sued. Soon after, the panel voted to pause its work reviewing new cases of police misconduct while a new ordinance was drafted.
“It has been an incredibly rocky road for the police oversight panel,” Mayor Aaron Brockett said. “There have been so many steps along the way. We were in a pretty dark place earlier this year. And I was losing hope for the success of this effort in our community. And here we are with this ray of light.”
