Get to Know Your Boulder Police Department

Steve Redfearn, police chief

Hello Boulder! 
I am so happy to be writing you when we’re one step close to my favorite season, Summer! It’s been a great spring, and I am so excited for all the exciting things going on in the city and at BPD!

I have enjoyed getting out into the community on these warmer days and interacting with everyone. I am happy with the progress we are making on many fronts including our work with the Safe and Managed Spaces Team (SAMPS) when it comes to encampments. Thank you for all of the feedback and patience in this work. 

I hope that it is noticeable in the community, and I am thrilled to report that in nearly every category of crime, we are down double digits so far in 2025, especially compared to last year. I believe this is a direct result of the efforts of our officers and staff who are embracing proactive policing and partnering with the community to solve crime and figure out ways to make areas less conducive to crime.

As a reminder, you can see our crime trends on our dashboard website. 

There are 13 different public safety dashboards.

Speaking of dashboards, we now have 13 different public safety dashboards at the above link. In March, we rolled out two new dashboards after requests from the community.

These two new dashboards are a use of force dashboard as well as our stop and contact data dashboards. In the spirit of transparency these dashboards provide data on when and why we are using force and against whom, as well as when and why we are stopping community members and the demographics of who we are stopping. There is important context with each, but I was very pleased to see what the data shows. Please check them out for yourselves. 

Last month we held our annual awards ceremony which we highlighted on social media. It was a special night and I was so proud of the work we recognized. It was so nice to have our friends, families, elected officials, and city partners in attendance to celebrate the accomplishments. If you want to read about the awards and see the photos you can do so here.

Chief Redfearn, Dispatcher Phelps and Officers Shinley, Harper, DiBlasi, Hawkins, and Beck pose with their awards at the BPD Annual Awards Ceremony

Saving the best for last, I am incredibly proud to share that in March, our agency was awarded its first ever accreditation through the Commission on Law Enforcement Accreditation (CALEA). This nearly 3-year process ensured that our policies, procedures, culture, and training all conform to industry best practices. 

Chief Redfearn, Deputy Chief Gosage and Commander LeFebre pose with CALEA officials while receiving their accreditation.

Only 5% of law enforcement agencies achieve this gold standard and after a hearing board’s approval, we are now among that elite group. I hope this demonstrates to you, our community, that we are committed to always doing better, opening ourselves up to feedback and critique, and seeking to be aligned with best practices.

You can read more about how this came about and what it means here.

Stay safe, and warm. 

Steve Redfearn, police chief

We're asking for YOUR help to be the top fundraising police agency in Boulder County for Special Olympics Colorado!

Chief Redfearn has challenged all the other law enforcement agencies to see who can raise the most money for the 2025 Polar Plunge THIS SATURDAY, April 5, at the Boulder Reservoir.

It's a great way to support these amazing athletes and we're proud to make this challenge for which there are no losers, only winners! And some delicious doughnuts!

Donate to our team via this link!  

The night of December 8, 2024, John went to work at Safeway like he always did. 

Late into his shift, he had a sudden heart attack and was clinically dead for several minutes.

But thanks to the combined efforts of Boulder’s first responders, he miraculously survived and made a full recovery.

He recently called to say thank you to Boulder Police Officers Striegel and Hadley; Boulder Fire-Rescue firefighters Watson, Berning, Elson, and DiLisio; and the AMR paramedics who responded that night.

He also gave us permission to share his story on our social media, which you can watch here.

Boulder Police Department home page: bouldercolorado.gov/government/departments/police