In 2015, it was Naeschylus Carter-Vinzant. Then, Elijah McClain. Then, Jor’dell Richardson. Now, it is Kilyn Lewis. If Aurora’s leaders fail to act, there will be yet another.
We are tired. We are enraged. We are aching for change.
Aurora police officers have killed too many Black lives. This is to say nothing of other instances of less-lethal force and racial profiling that, while failing to make the headlines, have undermined community trust.
In 2020, The ACLU of Colorado settled a case brought on behalf of Jamie Alberto Torres after Aurora Police Department (APD) officers brutalized him in response to a noise complaint. Our complaint identified 13 other instances where Aurora police subjected people of color to brutal violence in response to minor infractions, demonstrating that incidences like this were not an exception; they were the norm.
In another encounter, APD officers removed Dwight Crews, a Black man with a disability and ACLU client, from his home without a warrant. When Crews tried to stop his cat from leaving his home, officers tackled and handcuffed him on loose jagged rocks. They charged him with resisting arrest; a judge, however, dismissed the charges.
In another incident, two Aurora officers racially profiled Omar Hassan, another Black man and ACLU client. The officers commanded Hassan at gunpoint to leave a coffee shop where he had stopped after a night shift at work. On their own accord, the officers told him his “kind of business is not welcome here” after he bought a muffin and sat down to eat it. In the state’s most racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse city, this flippantly racist attitude is particularly intolerable.
These abuses have cost the city hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of dollars. Mr. Torres was ultimately awarded $295,000 in damages; Mr. Crews was awarded $35,000; Mr. Hassan was awarded $40,000. None of the officers involved, however, faced disciplinary action.
Indeed, the situation is so dire that APD entered a consent decree with Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser in 2021 after the office found a “pattern and practice of racially profiled policing.” Nearly three years later, after four police chiefs, three of them serving interim roles, APD has still not done enough to end its racist habits.
In the face of a police department so resistant to change, it is up to our city leaders to force it. Instead of addressing this issue, however, Aurora City Council members have refused calls for institutional fixes, including a civilian oversight committee, alternatives to policing, and more. They have attempted to undermine institutions like the Aurora Public Defender’s Office that can identify and monitor systemic injustices in the city’s criminal legal system. They have shut out concerned community members. The Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee and other community members report that the Aurora City Council continues to silence Kilyn Lewis’ family and other community members during public comment.
This is not leadership. This is hubris. This is cowardice. How many more Black and brown people must APD injure and kill before city leaders act?
Aurora City Council must fulfill its commitment to community safety, including safety from police violence and terror. Failure to do so threatens the lives of Black and Brown Aurora residents and prolongs this string of tragedies to an infinite loop. Perhaps most regrettably, it threatens to overshadow the vibrancy, vitality, and resiliency of this community and those that give it life.
Deborah Richardson became the Executive Director of the ACLU of Colorado in January 2021, after 30 years of experience guiding nonprofit organizations in advancing transformational social change. She is the first African American to lead the 72-year-old affiliate.
Unfortunately, there are numerous leaps of faith and abandonment of facts in this op ed. It is convenient to simply not look at all of the facts. It is working, though. The legislature bought into the whole idea and passed SB217 a few years ago and now we struggle to get qualified officers and your neighborhoods are more dangerous. If we look at each of the incidents,we will find that most were justified. The issue of black crime and the multitude of shootings conducted by young black males are conveniently ignored here. Jor Dell Richardson was involved in a robbery. Also unfortunately, for the most part, a civilian review board has no idea what the real problems are in training and supervision and will simply pursue an agenda presuming that racism is the cause. Draconian controls placed upon the police simply will freeze legitimate police activity. Right now, proactive policing, and therefore community policing, are dead. When the police stop making most stops, the opportunities for criminals to commit crimes skyrockets. They can drive their stolen or unlicensed car to do shootings without fear of being stopped. I am afraid that we will have to simply endure a far greater level of crime while we wait for a return to personal responsibility and a belief that criminal behavior should actually be punished. Obviously, we still need to look at each incident and hold officers responsible for their actions. That must be done with an educated understanding of police work and with full disclosure to the public.
Don, how much longer can you continue to defend the indefensible? I respect the years of service you gave to the APD, and assume that you were a good cop. Until the ‘thin blue line’ mentality is gone and cops start policing themselves, by getting rid of the bullies and bigots, any leadership brought in is sure to fail, or regress to the status quo. Culture eats strategy for breakfast.
I concur with the Executive Director. I’m not origionally from Aurora, but it’s obvious to me that APD has issues with unnecessessary violence and racism. I certainly don’t think all or the majority of APD officers are racist or treat people disrespectfully, but it is clear that there is an element that needs to face consequences for their actions or for inactions. The Council could provide needed leadership to complete the changes outlined in the consent decree and to allow citizen oversight. It’s quite clear that people of color have lost trust in the APD. It’s also quite clear that communities of color all over the country want and need a police presence they can rely on to provide fair and impartial protection and service! My son-in-law was a policeman in Texas. I know he was a good officer and that he loved the profession. It’s unfair to good officers like him to be forced to work along side those who abuse the public they serve and jeopardize community trust.
I find that the racism under Mike Coffman’s leadership has gotten worse every year. And now they’re even blaming Venezuelan immigrants for destroying an apartment complex that was actually destroyed by the slumlord that owns it. It won’t stop as long as the right wing have their claws in Aurora