AURORA | After four years under a state mandated consent decree overseeing policy and training changes in Aurora’s public safety departments, the city is moving forward with creating its own permanent monitoring office to ensure accountability continues.
City Manager Jason Batchelor presented a proposed ordinance to create the Office of Public Safety Accountability to city council at Monday’s study session. The bill lays out the duties and scope of the office, which includes investigating critical public safety incidents that result in serious injury or death. The office would monitor all of the city’s public safety functions, including police, fire, 911 and detention.
The measure follows years of efforts to improve accountability and transparency in police and fire departments after the death of Elijah McClain in 2019, which, among other cases, prompted state investigators to find a pattern of racial bias and excessive use of force.
Since 2022, the city police reform efforts have been reviewed by a contracted monitor, which has released periodic progress reports about training and policy updates. The most recent report was released in April and found that police and fire departments are substantially compliant with the consent decree’s mandates.
The report also identified the need for the city to implement an independent monitoring system to sustain the changes and progress.
The proposed ordinance for the Office of Public Safety Accountability says its mission will be “the furtherance of the reforms achieved under the Consent Decree and culture of continuous improvement.”
In a statement, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who implemented the consent decree, said he has long called for the city to have an independent monitor and supports the efforts to create the new office to “advance meaningful reform in policing.”
“A permanent structure for independent review of the police department will help ensure that reform, accountability, and transparency continue, and that the city is responsive to community concerns,” Weiser said.
The office will be overseen by a manager, who will be hired by the city manager and report administratively to the city manager’s office, while providing information to the city council’s public safety committee.
In addition to investigating critical incidents, the office will review and report on all public safety functions on an ongoing basis, including “use of force reviews, policy development, and department operations and performance meetings.” It will also release annual reports on its findings, as well as take complaints and commendations.
The office will work in conjunction with the city’s internal auditor and the Civil Service Commission, which oversees hiring, promotions and discipline for police and fire employees.
Under the ordinance, the office would get “unrestricted access” to city employees, information, police records and electronic data, body-worn camera videos, property, equipment and facilities required for the office to conduct reviews and oversight.
Batchelor said the office is modeled after the internal auditor and designed to be independent and have unfettered access to information, though he clarified that requests for information would need a specific reason and couldn’t be used for “fishing expeditions.”
City Attorney Pete Schulte said the city chose to model the office after the internal auditor because the city’s charter restricts boards and commissions, made up of appointed residents, to advisory roles without the ability to enforce change or access all the necessary information.
On top of the oversight function, the office’s duties include regular community listening sessions and providing a family liaison for critical incidents.
Batchelor said the city has budgeted for two full-time positions in the office for 2026.
Conservative council members questioned what protections the ordinance will have to keep politics from influencing the office. Language about consulting city council during the hiring process raised concerns for Councilmember Françoise Bergan. Under city charter, the council cannot hire or fire city staff, except for the city manager, the city attorney and the presiding judge of municipal courts.
Bergan said the council shouldn’t be involved in the hiring process at all because of the risk of swaying the decision or making it political.
“If a particular majority of council influences the city manager to hire who they want to be hired, that’s probably what’s going to happen,” Bergan said.
Councilmember Stephanie Hancock said she wants the leader of the new office to be certified by a national organization for police oversight as an assurance that they would be neutral during investigations.
Supporting council members said the creation of the office is a milestone in longtime efforts to rebuild relationships between public safety responders and the public.
Councilmember Gianina Horton said she’s excited the city is taking its first steps to outline what accountability and transparency in public safety will look like in the future. She said the inclusion of family liaisons and ongoing community engagement came from suggestions at town hall events earlier this year.
Horton said the intent of the ordinance creating the office is to ensure a “balanced and independent approach that will provide trust building for communities across Aurora.”
During public comment at a council meeting focusing on the proposal, MiDian Shofner, an activist who has worked with some families of Black men who were killed by Aurora police, said the office is a start, but more work and community engagement is needed.
“We anticipate that there will be an invitation for stakeholding because we will not go away with the simple modifications that will come from that ordinance,” Shofner said.
On the same day, Aurora lawmakers approved a resolution to restrict public communications from the Aurora Police Department, including social media posts, mugshots, and press releases.
The resolution requires police communications to follow established city communications policies and procedures, and prohibits posting mugshots and suspect names on social media until the suspect pleads guilty or is convicted.
The move has been controversial, with some council members accusing progressive members of using the resolution to pressure Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain into quitting.