Get to Know Your Boulder Police Department

Steve Redfearn, police chief

Hello Boulder!

I hope 2026 is treating everyone well so far!  We are continuing to work hard for you, our community, to keep Boulder safe, and navigate all the things going on at a local, state, and federal level. It seems like things continue to be chaotic, but one thing that is constant is your BPD’s commitment to our community and to public safety. 

In late February, your BPD leadership team held our 2026 retreat where we spent the day away from the office, planning for the year, setting goals for our team, and listening to several guest speakers, including Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty, University of Colorado Boulder Police Chief Ashley Griffin, Boulder Police Foundation Co-founder Cindy Caruso and another special guest who flew in just to speak to our group. 

For context, our leadership team consists of the chief, two deputy chiefs, a chief of staff, six commanders, a Dispatch manager, a Records manager, a public information officer, a legal advisor, a chief data analyst, a Business Services manager, and the chief’s executive assistant. 

The Boulder Police Department leadership team and guest speaker retired Los Angeles Police Chief Beck after the annual retreat.

At our retreat this year, we talked a lot about how to move our agency forward and examined things like the City Council priority on bicycle theft and how we can continue to address that issue. But we also had higher level discussions about morale, retention, and accountability within our agency. This is not easy work, and we had some thoughtful discussions on how we can better serve both our community and our team. It was really a great day, and we came out of the retreat with a clearer sense of mission and purpose. 

We ended the day with a 2-hour fireside chat with special guest speaker former Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck. Chief Beck served as the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 2009 to 2018 and was the interim police chief in Chicago after that. In speaking to our team, he shared lessons about leadership in crisis, morale and retention, as well as some incredible stories about leading one of America’s largest cities after several high-profile scandals and events. As a policing icon who led through some of the most challenging times in the country, I knew that Chief Beck would be great to speak to our team. This sure proved to be true, and we all walked away with a renewed since of commitment to our duties, and lessons that will serve us well in our roles here in Boulder.

Retired Los Angeles Police Chief Beck speaks during a moderated chat with BPD's leadership team.

We truly have an exceptional leadership team, and we are cohesive and like-minded. It makes coming to work a pleasure, and as I thought about ways to share more about our agency with you, I decided this newsletter would be a great way to highlight a different member of our leadership team every month. 

To start, I want to introduce you to our Chief of Staff, Alastair McNiven. Many of you might know Chief of Staff McNiven through his extensive work with the Blue Envelope Program, and through his liaison work with the Center for People with Disabilities and the Muslim community. 

Alastair’s role as chief of staff is vital and he serves as somewhat of a “right hand person” to the chief. He serves as acting chief in my absence and represents me at events and meetings when I am unable to attend or we have multiple competing events. 

The position of chief of staff is unusual because Alastair does not supervise any employees directly yet has oversight for the entire agency. He can handle many different tasks and responsibilities both inside and outside of the agency, from internal policy creation to external community engagement programs, for example. 
But his journey to Boulder Police was a unique one.

Alastair was born in the former British Crown Colony of Hong Kong, to a mother from Mobile, Alabama, who was a US consulate employee, and a father from Scotland who was an officer in the Royal Hong Kong Police. He lived in Hong Kong until he was 12, then moved to Scotland to live with his paternal grandmother and attend school.  After finishing high school, Alastair attended the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacology. He continued onto graduate school at the same university, completing his Ph.D. in 1988. His thesis was titled, “The Electrophysiology of Potassium Channels in the Hamster Egg.” 

That year, he emigrated to Denver to work in the Physiology Department of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He met his future wife Kristi there, as she worked in a lab several corridors away.
After working in the lab for five years, he made an abrupt career change and left science to open a martial arts school. For the next six years as owner/operator of the school, he taught self defense, Filipino stick- and knife fighting, and a primitive version of Mixed Martial Arts called Shootfighting. 

After spending time teaching police officers from a number of different agencies, Alastair made his third and final career change by applying to be a Boulder police officer. He was 36 years old when he was sworn in on January 11, 1999, having been hired as part of a large class of 26. He’s one of three officers from that class still at BPD today.   

After three years working our night shift on Patrol, Alastair was selected to be a narcotics officer with the Boulder County Drug Task Force. While he enjoyed being a case agent running investigations, he really loved the opportunity to work undercover in a variety of roles, where he was able to leverage an exaggerated Scottish accent. The accent, along with some long hair (yes, it may be hard to picture now given the official photo of him above), was useful in convincing suspects that he was not a cop. After five years, he returned to Patrol, promoting to sergeant in 2008. He worked both Watch II and Watch III in that role until 2020, when he was selected to be the new Professional Standards Unit sergeant. This was a challenging time because it was also when the Independent Police Monitor (IPM) position was created, followed shortly by the establishment of the Police Oversight Panel, both of which greatly increased the workload for the PSU Office. 

Three IPMs and nearly four years later in August 2023, Alastair applied to be the first commissioned chief of staff at Boulder PD. What he enjoys the most about this role, he says, is the constant variety of challenges, and working with the executive team to answer those challenges. This also includes working with diverse groups and individuals with quite disparate views to try to find effective resolutions. He continues in that role, supporting the chief and serving the employees of Boulder PD and the community of Boulder by working on Risk Mitigation, Community Engagement, and Special Projects.     

Chief of Staff McNiven while on the Boulder County Drug Task Force

As I have said, we are here for you, Boulder, and we commit to being accessible and transparent. You can reach me via email anytime, but I will also share Chief of Staff McNiven’s contact information because he is as committed to our community as I am. Feel free to reach out to Alastair anytime at McNivenA@bouldercolorado.gov

I know you will find him as awesome as we do!  

Steve Redfearn, police chief
 

Professional Standards Unit Sergeant Andrew Heaton recently completed the University of Denver's Public Safety Leadership Development (PSLD) program, which brings together public safety professionals from across multiple disciplines to learn.

This year marked the program’s 38th cohort, with participants representing law enforcement agencies, fire departments, EMS providers and other medical services, and district attorney offices.

The course began with a three-day session in February where students engaged in a combination of classroom instruction and hands-on leadership exercises. The curriculum focused on leadership principles and team development, with outdoor activities designed to reinforce those lessons in real-world scenarios. The cohort reconvened in March on the campus of the University of Denver, where the program continued with additional classroom instruction and collaborative team exercises.

Everyone leaves the program with different perspectives and lessons they can apply in their own organizations. For some, the experience strengthened communication skills or provided new ways to understand and work with different personality types. For others, the program reinforced the importance of personal development as a foundation for effective leadership.

"I took away a lot, including the desire to continue learning and studying leadership. The importance of reinforcing a mission statement, understanding how I operate and communicate, how others understand with a different personality type, creating psychological safety, and more," Sergeant Heaton said. "Learning to focus on myself was one of the most valuable lessons I took away from this program. Many leadership courses emphasize building and leading a team, but this experience reinforced that effective leadership begins with taking care of yourself first. By strengthening your own body, mind, heart, and spirit, you’re better prepared to lead and support those around you. The tools and lessons we learned are ones I’m already applying in my own life and look forward to sharing with my colleagues."

One of our community members emailed us this week to thank Officer John Serrano who assisted her following a break-in to her daughter’s vehicle, during which her bank card and cash were stolen.

"From the very beginning, Officer J. Serrano demonstrated an exceptional level of professionalism, urgency, and compassion. He responded promptly and immediately began looking into the situation, making it clear that he took the matter seriously," she wrote. "What stood out most was not only his efficiency, but also his kindness and willingness to keep me informed. He took the time to clearly explain the status of the case and next steps, which provided a great deal of reassurance during a stressful situation.

"His sense of urgency and commitment to resolving the case did not go unnoticed. It is evident that he goes above and beyond in his role, and his dedication to serving the community is truly appreciated. Please extend my sincere gratitude and recognition for his outstanding service."

Keep up the great work, Officer Serrano!

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