Community Corner is local contributions from local residents and experts in their fields.
See the Yellow Scene Magazine article published on 1/29/2023: Boulder City Council Votes on Police Oversight Board Change, with Police Advisory Group Playing Big Role
Jan. 17, 2023
Dear Boulder City Council Members,
Your vote to confirm members of the Police Oversight Committee that may be recommended to the Select Committee is only a few days away. As I wrote recently, the Select Committee’s hearings, per BRC § 2-11-6(a)(5), are confidential. Damn the law that you passed, you instructed the Select Committee to review all recommended candidates and make sure that the correct constitution is used, so that it can be seen if the politicians met the criteria. And this should have been done with guidance from the City Attorney’s Office. The Selection Committee, which you have ordered, will provide you with information or certificates that explain the steps taken, in writing.
Details of the steps taken by the Selection Committee, provided to you in writing, are a requirement for them to share their confidential assessment. full stop.
In addition, the Select Committee sent several communications to challenge Lisa Sweeney-Miran. The emails that came from NAACP Boulder County Branch Vice President and Selection Panel Member Jude Landman, told the Daily Camera on Sunday, he considered it as follows: “I thought it was very inappropriate to send (general comments) to the selection committee when comments were also opposed to oversight (of the Boulder Police Department) in general.
Talk about bias–you know, what the Members of the Assembly showed, and illegally, tried to make sure they were vindicated. applications submitted by the Selection Committee. There is a bias here, and it is to give a voice to the cultural activists who oppose any instruction. The submission of special advertisements-or copaganda-to the Selective Group is part of this effort and called, as the Member of Benjamin did, “due diligence,” nothing.
How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the plank out of your eye,’ when the plank is in your own eye? your own eyes? You who are unrighteous, first remove the beam from your own eye, then you will know how to remove the beam from your brother’s eye.
As this process returns to Parliament on Thursday, we have been warned against delaying a vote that will disrupt the Policing Group, as share in. Boulder Beat News: “‘We will lose our quorum if we don’t occupy those new areas,’ (Assistant Chairman of the Police Department Daniel) said Leonard.”
While I hope that the disruption in this process will end as we may call for an election this week, the staff of the city. In the same story by Boulder Beat News, Chief Herold is quoted as saying, “The role of the group is not to look after the police in a normal way, . . . . The role of the panel is to look at the facts and circumstances and then recommend an order or order; that’s it.”
Just as the Council and city staff ignored that part of the law that says “(s)elections are confidential,” it seems Mr. Herold ignored the law. In the Powers and Duties section of the law, BRC § 2-11-7(e) states:
The police oversight team shall have access to Boulder Police Department policies and any records recorded or maintained by the department to facilitate the team’s review and understanding of the department’s operations. . The panel may direct the monitor to conduct special audits of departmental records, policies, or procedures.
Therefore, the Police Department can access the BPD records and can order the Police Inspector to investigate. If that’s not “viewing (the) police in a special way,” please explain to me what it is. And if so (show, this is), someone needs to tell Chief Herold. Because the law is silent on what to do with the analysis after it is done, we must understand that this means that the analysis must be kept from the public and not used to improve the system. policies and procedures of the Boulder Police Department?
Based on this understanding, I will remain silent on your non-response as an agreement with the Chief Herold, and as a confirmation that such efforts and analysis at the direction of the members of the Police Department to should not see the light of day. They should not help us avoid another person Officer Smyly the kind of interaction that inspired the creation of the Police Surveillance Unit by “watching the police in a normal way.” And surely they should let Chief Herold and the City Attorney inform them of their powers and responsibilities, instead of using the law itself, so that they don’t compromise and make real changes.
Sincerely,
Darren O’Connor, Esq.
NAACP Boulder County Office of Criminal Justice Chairman
He/she/its
Jan. 18, 2023
The Honorable Boulder Council, City Manager Rivera-Vandermyde, Members of the Police Department, and members of the press,
Last week, Council, according to the Daily Camerathe POP Nomination Committee was required to provide “a written explanation of the steps taken in the selection of new members before bringing the matter back before the meeting in January.”
Perhaps the Council was not aware of the law’s prohibition against this demand. BRC
- 2-11-6(5) states that “The hearing of the panel shall be confidential.” The steps taken in choosing the list of POP members are definitely the “consultation” of the selection committee.
Apparently, while the members of the Council were looking for something in the law that could be used against one of the new members of the committee, they ignored this legal requirement to confirm the work of the selected group. This is wrong, and the selection committee’s demand to disclose those confidential reviews is illegal. While a summary of the reasons for the selection of each applicant is also part of the law, one would think that, under the leadership of Aimee Kane and the temporary supervision of the police, this is what was done. . Demands involving the private communications of the selected group are not fair game to question the selected group.
I am writing to request that the request of the Council be withdrawn, and that the Council vote on the list recommended by the selection committee, in accordance with BRC § 2-11-6(15 ):
A motion to approve the nominees must be placed on the council’s approval list. Council members may choose to exercise the right to call to discuss a candidate’s position. The Council will approve or reject the appointments by majority vote.
The Council should have had sole discretion to discuss any particular candidate and then vote. But the Council decided to make a request that was not within its authority due to the prohibition of what it needed, as discussed above.
Put this to a vote, and let the people do their jobs as community police officers. It is the right, and legally required, thing to do.
Sincerely,
Darren O’Connor, Esq.
NAACP Boulder County Office of Criminal Justice Chairman
He/she/its
panel )city