Get to Know Your Boulder Police Department

Steve Redfearn, police chief

Hello Boulder, and happy July!

I hope that this finds you well, and that you are staying cool in the hot temperatures we’ve had lately. 

I want to start by thanking everyone for all the support during all of June in the aftermath of the terror attack on June 1st. We are doing well, and our first responders have been connected to resources to ensure that they remain well. Of course, we were devastated to hear that one of the victims died in late June, and we remain committed to supporting all of those involved as the case moves on. 

On that note, in the aftermath of the attack, I had multiple inquiries from people wondering how we take care of our staff’s well-being so they can continue to take care of our community. 

Based upon my own experiences dealing with trauma and cumulative trauma throughout my career, I have stressed the importance of wellness for our staff since taking over as chief. Each of our supervisors knows my expectations about not only ensuring we are engaging in best practices surrounding employee wellness (both physical and mental), and it is stressed every day, but also when we have a traumatic incident like the Pearl Street attack. 

BPD has been working hard to improve our wellness initiatives over the past few years, especially since the mass shooting in 2021 and the effect it had on all of our staff. Currently, we have a robust Peer Support Team, a dedicated Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that specializes in police psychology (available for members and family members), a chaplain program, and a physical wellness team that focuses on how to improve our overall fitness. This team has accomplished things like refurbishing and enhancing our department gym and bringing in outside seminars on wellness-related topics. 

Boulder Police gym

The bottom line is that in our profession, we can’t avoid missing holidays, our kids’ events, and other milestones due to varied hours and shift work, but we owe it to those who are willing to sacrifice so much for our community to take care of them. The community has a role in this, too.

Please understand that the officer you encounter on the street may have just come from a difficult or traumatic call, and by saying hello or thanking them for their service, you can make their day.  

Below is an excerpt from a thank you we received commending Officers Hill and Mills for their response to a call involving an adult who struggles with mental illness and drug addiction. The full post is on our social media.

"I really hesitated to call 911. I was afraid of how it was all going to be handled, but they were absolutely amazing. They asked me what I needed and I explained my goal. They then went over and spoke with him. And they were so gentle, so kind. I was just so impressed with the entire interaction,” she said.

Boulder Police Officers Hill, left, and Mills, right.

I want to switch topics a bit and talk about safety and crime. It has been a bit since I’ve updated our crime data, but I am happy to share that as of the end of June, our persons and property crimes are all down significantly year to date compared to last year.

Some examples:
•    Robbery is down 21%
•    Aggravated Assault is down 12%
•    Sexual Assault is down 17%
•    Burglary is down 32%
•    Motor Vehicle Theft is down 26%
•    And Arson is down 35%

We continue to need the public’s help in reducing and keeping crime down. Considering the attack in June and a recent spree of assaults with a chain around the city, we need you to let us know what you are seeing in your communities. The old “see something, say something” saying is true today. We can’t be everywhere, and nor do we know what might be out of place in your area, so please continue to call us if you see something that is not right.

I hope that everyone has a great summer and gets some downtime. We all need a little bit of decompression with the current events and I was lucky enough to get out of the office recently for a family trip to London. It was amazing, and I came back ready to hit the ground running with all of our events and goings on that make summer in Boulder so amazing. 

We will be here if you need us. Stay safe out there, Boulder. 

Steve Redfearn, police chief
 

Two of our officers came back from an exchange program with our German police counterparts and were excited to share what they learned.

“It has been a very active mix of police specific experiences with culture and relationship building. Some quick highlights include meeting with the Leader of the Polizei for all of lower Bavaria and discussing current and emerging challenges, touring a large prison with the most serious offenders, observing riot control training at the Dachau academy, and an amazing visit to the Dachau concentration camp,” Officer Courtney Parker said. “Living with our incredible hosts while cooking meals and traveling together has led to do many insightful conversations. Sharing experiences, tactics and the funny experiences that make policing unique.”

Officer Brooke Wright said the different type of training was one of the things that stood out the most to her. 

“They do not train (in scenarios where) people may have guns on them, which is very different in the officer safety realm of things. Additionally, they rarely actually arrest people on the spot unless it is a higher felony charge. They investigate on scene and then write their report and let the prosecutor decide if they should be in jail or not,” she said. 

In the fall, two officers from Bavaria, Germany, will spend two weeks with Boulder Police learning about how we police here in the United States.

“We have learned in recent years that the way we’ve always done things in the policing profession doesn’t serve us well in many instances. This is why BPD is committed to learning about new and different ways to police,” Chief Redfearn said.

“Thus, when the opportunity to be a part of this exchange program and send two officers to Germany came up, I jumped at the chance to participate. Our officers learned a great deal and brought back some new and interesting concepts. I believe when we host the two German officers in September it will be equally interesting and educational for our team to learn new and better ways to police. We are grateful to the STAR program for this opportunity.” 

We recently promoted and recognized several members of our sworn and professional staff.

That included:
*promoting two Records Department members to compliance specialist,
*promoting a 20-year BPD employee to Property and Evidence supervisor,
*swearing in two new Code Enforcement officers,
*swearing in three new lateral officers who come with experience from other police agencies,
*recognizing our nine new officers who just graduated from the academy, and
*swearing in two new sergeants.

Congrats all!

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