Get to Know Your Boulder Police Department

Steve Redfearn, police chief

Hello Boulder! Happy Fall.

I must admit that, despite my love for summer and warm weather, Fall is an incredible time of year in Colorado. I hope that everyone is ready to enjoy the fall leaves, cooler temps, and Halloween! Growing up in Colorado, I am a huge Broncos fan, so this time of year means football and watching games with friends. We are off to a bit of slow start, but I am excited for the season! 

Chief Redfearn on the sidelines during a recent Broncos game.

Since last month’s newsletter discussing back to school, we have had some concerning incidents in the city and around the state. I have heard from many parents and students about school safety, and I want everyone to know that in September, when we had two separate calls about people around schools with a gun, our officers responded swiftly, along with outside partner agencies.

Thankfully, neither of the incidents in Boulder was a legitimate weapons call, and we were able to test our responses a bit. I am very pleased with our response on many levels, and each incident brought learning lessons that we will use for future calls.

Considering these incidents and the horrific shooting at Evergreen High School in September, we have had many questions about school safety. Though we have not had School Resource Officers in the Boulder Valley School District since they were removed in 2020, we work very closely with BVSD’s Security and Administration personnel. Your Boulder Police officers will always respond swiftly to any threat, but questions about safety inside our schools are best addressed by BVSD.

Shifting gears a bit, I want to highlight some of the tremendous accomplishments our agency has made in the last year. I was reminded that September 20th marked one year since I was officially named your chief of police, and I couldn’t be prouder of the work our team accomplished during that first year. Thus, I wanted to highlight some of that work here.

Judge Cahn administers the oath of office to Chief Redfearn in 2024 before Chief Redfearn's mother pinned on his new badge.

There are some specific highlights that I am proudest of, starting with BPD’s first-ever accreditation by the Commission for the Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). As I shared in a prior newsletter, this is a significant accomplishment and the result of several years of work. Only around 5 percent of agencies worldwide are accredited, and I am so honored that BPD now joins those ranks. 

We will share more in our November newsletter, but this month will be BPD’s first-ever German police exchange program. Two of our officers had the amazing experience of going to Germany earlier this year to learn about policing there, and now, in October, we will be hosting German officers in the exchange. It is amazing to learn about ways other cultures and countries keep their communities safe, and we are excited to see what we can bring to BPD. 

On the community engagement front, we are still full speed ahead, and have hosted dozens of events, from coffee or cookies with a cop to our faith leaders' breakfasts, we are doing all we can to connect with the community. This year alone, we have added police officer liaisons to multiple community groups, including our African American and Hispanic/Latino liaisons as well as our Jewish and Muslim Liaisons. We are finding better ways to connect to our community. My personal favorite might just be the “pickleball with the police” that we participated in with Expand Boulder!

Some of our police officer community liaisons.

Pickleball with the Police!

Related to community engagement are the continued efforts we have engaged in to support our Reimagine Policing plan. Just this year, we have:

*implemented a new Spanish Language Traffic Form, the Blue Envelope Program, which we have discussed in other newsletters,

*added a public safety consultant who works for the Office of Equity and Belonging, and

*we’ve expanded our K9 program to better serve the community. 

One thing that I am proud of is our staff development. This year we hosted a course called “Emerging Leaders,” which was designed for BPD, and we were the first agency to host this class, which focused on developing our next set of supervisors.   

The Emerging Leaders class listening to a speaker, above, and Records and Compliance Specialist Kya Beyer, who said she used the skills she learned in the class to earn a promotion.

In addition, by the end of 2025, every single police commander will have attended an advanced leadership school, several on a national level (One example is below). These schools are intense and provide our commanders opportunities to learn with peers from all over the country. We remain committed to developing our next senior leaders.

There is much more on the accomplishment front, and I can take credit for very little of the work beyond regularly encouraging all members of our department to continually look for learning opportunities that will enhance their skillset and subsequently better serve our agency and the community. Our incredible team remains hyper-focused on serving our community and finding ways to better engage, respond, and fight crime. I could not be prouder to lead this fine agency and after looking at what we’ve accomplished in just one year, I can’t wait to see what’s next. 

We could not do this work without our community, our elected leaders, and city management. Thank you all for a great first year! I am confident that with our incredible team, led by a talented group of leaders, we will continue to make great progress in the next year!

Stay safe and Go Broncos! 

Steve Redfearn, police chief
 

This past month, Commander Mike Heath attended and graduated from the prestigious Department of Homeland Security Leadership Academy for two weeks to enhance his skills as a leader within the Boulder Police Department.

Since its establishment in 2015, DHSLA has become the cornerstone in the professional development of state, local, and tribal law enforcement leaders across the nation. Through immersive training, real-world case studies, and collaboration with peers from diverse jurisdictions, DHSLA equips today’s leaders with the tools to meet tomorrow’s challenges. Commander Heath learned a lot during that time.

"Over the course of two weeks, we focused on the foundations of leadership, strategic thinking and decision-making, innovation in law enforcement, crisis leadership, and professional development," he said. "What I valued most was the collaboration with leaders from across the world. The opportunity to learn from such a diverse group of people—and to build connections that will last a lifetime—was truly invaluable.  I came away with fresh ideas, a wider perspective, and a renewed energy to keep growing as a leader."

Hats off to our Fairview Softball Home Run Derby winners for the second consecutive year!!  

This week our BPD team beat out a stronger field than last year and hit more home runs than any other team in Boulder, protecting the coveted WWF belt!  

"It was a pleasure!" officers said. "We are most definitely doing it every year to compete in the home run derby to the defend the title!"

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