Police Reform

All eyes are on an Aurora courtroom for the Elijah McClain case that went on trial last week. Mclain, a 23-year-old Black man, died four years ago during a violent encounter with Aurora police and paramedics. His death has had major reverberations in Colorado and far beyond.

The Colorado Sun editor David Krause joined us to discuss an anticipated new state report on police use of force.

Governor Jared Polis has established today, May 24th as Christian Glass day. The proclamation is a tribute to the 22-year-old Boulder resident who was shot and killed by police in Idaho Springs last summer.

Community leaders and activists on Monday rallied around a suburban Denver police chief who was fired last week despite her community work, including efforts to rebuild trust with residents following the 2019 death of Elijah McClain.

In the past decade, Northern Colorado’s largest cities settled 205 allegations against police. The cost of those settlements was $50 million, roughly enough to fund a police department the size of Boulder’s for a year. That’s according to a KUNC investigation that found a recurring pattern where victims and their families dropped their allegations in exchange for a cash payout.

Police often rely on eyewitnesses to identify suspects. But experts say witnessing a crime can be traumatic and the brain is often uncertain on the details. This is especially true when trying to identify suspects with a showup near a crime scene, which usually involves one person versus a group of people in other types of lineups. The misidentification and wrongful arrest of a Black teen led to a grassroots movement in Colorado to change this practice.

The president of a police union in Aurora has been placed on paid administrative leave by the police department after he sent an email to the group's 240 members calling diversity provisions in an agreement between the city and the state “sexist and racist.”

Today on Colorado Edition, we hear about upcoming changes to the police and fire departments in Aurora. We also learn about the first nuclear plant that will use Natrium technology, and hear what happens to oil and gas wells when their producers go bankrupt.

The Aurora Police Department has agreed to reforms after the killing of Elijah McClain led to indictments against officers and a first-of-its-kind civil rights investigation that found a pattern of racially-biased policing and excessive force.

The city of Aurora launched a new crisis intervention program last month. The Aurora Mobile Response Team, under the city’s Division of Housing and Community, is sending unarmed, trained mental health professionals to respond to some emergency calls.