AURORA | After four years of implementing the demands made by a state-imposed consent decree, a contracted monitor reported that Aurora public safety leaders have made significant progress in addressing overly aggressive and biased policing. However, it said there is still work to do on accountability systems and ensuring efforts continue beyond the initial monitoring period.
The 10th monitoring report, which covers August 2025 to February, released this month, says Aurora police and fire departments are 81% substantially compliant with the decree’s mandates. It also found that the fire department’s efforts to regulate the use of chemical sedatives, like prohibiting ketamine, have been successful enough to warrant the termination of continued monitoring of those policies.
Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado
In a statement to the Sentinel, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who imposed the consent decree in 2021, said the city has made progress but more improvement is needed, particularly from the police department.
“While data collection and analysis is being done, the way the data is being used to improve behavior in the field is a work-in-progress,” Weiser said, adding that he is supportive of the efforts to create a permanent police monitor truly independent of the police department.
The decree followed investigations into repeated incidents of excessive use of force and discrimination by Aurora police, particularly against people of color, including the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, who died at the hands of police and first responders after being stopped, even though he was unarmed. McClain was not suspected or accused of any crimes, but he was walking at home at night from a convenience store
The decree outlines 68 mandates broad reforms in training, accountability, use-of-force policies, data systems and community engagement.
The decree is overseen by IntegrAssure, a paid contractor that works alongside city staff and public safety leaders to monitor and ensure progress.
IntegrAssure’s 10th report was positive about the efforts made by Aurora’s public safety departments in the last four years, pointing to clearer use of force policies, scenario-based training, comprehensive incident reviews and strengthened supervisory oversight. The report says those changes “have materially improved the City’s ability to manage critical incidents in a disciplined and constructive manner.”
It also highlighted areas that still need improvement, such as standardizing discipline for officers, advancing bias-screening metrics and establishing the Office of Public Safety Accountability to ensure the changes are sustained and continue independent monitoring.
The report did get some pushback, with Qusair Mohamedbhai, one of the attorneys for the McClain family, questioning whether the report is truly objective. Mohamedbhai said the report is “trying to communicate a message that things are improving, but doesn’t communicate very much information about what’s going on.”
APD Bodycam Screengrab
Mohamedbhai also raised concern that the report doesn’t provide details about how the department responds to mental health crises or what kind of crisis intervention training officers receive. The report says crisis training is a voluntary supplement to use-of-force training.
“There is absolutely no discussion at all as to what the plans are of the department to better respond to community members who are going through mental health crises,” Mohamedbhai said. “Aurora doesn’t seem to be improving on this particular issue, and it’s surprising that this report glosses over this very important topic.”
Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain did not respond to a request for comment, but a city spokesperson said the police and fire departments remain committed to the consent decree process and consider the decree’s criteria to be a baseline for the future.
“Aurora and its public safety agencies are committed to a culture of continuous improvement that goes beyond said baseline,” the spokesperson said, noting the city’s budget contains funding for the creation of the Office of Public Safety Accountability.
So far, city council members have had a few community meetings to start the process of creating the office.
In addition to the 10th report, IntegrAssure released a four-year reflection, which praised public safety leaders for embracing a cultural shift toward continuous improvement, as opposed to the previous culture where reforms were “externally driven and compliance oriented.”
During the 10th reporting period, there were no officer-involved shootings and, though arrests increased compared to a previous reporting period, use of force incidents were slightly down.
According to the report, the police departments’ efforts have resulted in a change in public opinion. A 2026 public survey on attitudes toward the police department found that the public has a less negative view of police, but also that positive attitudes have slightly decreased, signaling people have shifted to a neutral view of the department.
Omar Montgomery, state conference president for the NAACP and one of the original members of the Community Advisory Council, which formed under the decree and made recommendations to the police, said he has seen positive changes but still wants to see permanent independent monitoring efforts put in place.
“I think some of the things they’ve done in regards to de-escalation training, which I still consider in the process of being implemented, are working and some aspects of APD culture are changing,” Montgomery said. “The area I think can definitely still use improvement is how IntegrAssure engages and informs the community. They’re at the point where they only have to report twice a year, which is why I think we have to begin putting our efforts into the permanent, independent monitor.”
Montgomery, who was formerly the Aurora NAACP president, emphasized that wanting long-term monitoring is not an anti-police stance, but a pro-public safety one.
“We want the same thing that everyone wants — a safe city with accountability for people who abuse their power,” he said.