Get to Know Your Boulder Police Department

Steve Redfearn, police chief

Hello Boulder!

I hope everyone is having a great Spring. You may have noticed that we didn’t get an April newsletter out, and I have to say, it was a busy month! I am excited to share some updates as we move toward summer and introduce you to another member of your BPD team!

First though, I want to acknowledge the verdict in the state case against the domestic terror suspect who attacked our community on June 1st, 2025. This was an incredibly difficult time for our city, and I am very pleased the suspect pleaded guilty to all of the state charges and will never be a free man again. Avoiding a public trial in this case likely saved a lot of additional strife on the victims, their families, and our first responders. 

I am so proud of the work that our team did that day, in the aftermath, and since then to get the investigation to the point that it is today, and I am incredibly grateful for everyone that played a role in bring a positive resolution to this case, especially our partners with the D.A.’s Office and our federal law enforcement agencies. 

Chief Redfearn speaks during the press conference after the court hearing this week.

We continue to make great progress in crime reduction in the city, and our crime numbers year to date look very good compared to last year’s data. We continue to trend downward in almost every category with a slight increase in assaults and arson cases. Meanwhile, our proactive work is up nearly 1,200 more contacts with individuals so far this year compared to last year at this time. This means that your officers are able to proactively talk with people and walk, ride, and patrol areas BEFORE a call for service or an incident occurs, often addressing issues and concerns before they start or someone is victimized. 

The increase in proactivity is heartening, especially since we are once again understaffed. At the beginning of the year, we were briefly fully staffed in nearly all areas of the agency and while we are fortunate enough to continue to hire great employees, we’re seeing the departure of others.

Specifically, we are authorized to have 190 sworn officers, but we are currently down 12 officers, or 6 percent. In Dispatch, we’re supposed to have 24 dispatchers, but we’re currently down 5.5 dispatchers, or 23 percent.

In Records, we are authorized to have 10 Records Specialists, but we’ve been down 5 employees (or 50 percent) until a month ago when one new employee started. That’s literally half of our staff in this critical unit. With another employee out on intermittent parent leave, it’s been a challenge to manage and respond to the numerous requests and reports that come in daily, but we will continue doing our best to serve the community. 

I share all of this because I believe it’s important for you to know our challenges. Based on the exit interviews we’ve conducted, the reasons people cite for leaving include better pay and benefits at other Colorado agencies, leaving the profession entirely, and lower costs of living. Employees have told us they want to live in the community in which they work. All of this and more is why I’m working with our city partners to ensure we remain competitive when it comes to making that happen.

While our response times to in-progress calls continue to be well above the national average, lower-priority calls as well as some records requests may take longer than normal while we work to backfill the vacant positions and comply with all state laws regarding redaction, victim privacy, and the release of public information. 

One last note, I want to thank everyone who came to our Second Quarter Chief’s Town Hall at the Boulder Chamber last week. We had a great turn out, good questions, and really engaged community members. Thank you to Councilmembers Kaplan, Marquis, and Winer for attending, and to the Chamber—specifically Jonathan Singer—for hosting and moderating.  

Our Third Quarter Town Hall is currently scheduled for July in East Boulder but it might have to be changed due to some scheduling issues on our end. We will update our website and social media as soon as we know more.

Chief Redfearn speaks during his Second Quarter Town Hall at the Boulder Chamber downtown.

Now onto our next executive team introduction! In March, we featured Chief of Staff Alastair McNiven and for this newsletter I want to introduce you to another member of my executive team: Operations Deputy Chief Barry Hartkopp. Barry has the exact opposite career path from Alastair and yet he brings such great insight because of his 40 plus years of Boulder Police-specific experience.

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. 

Barry Hartkopp has been around the City of Boulder and the Boulder Police Department his entire life. His father, Jerry Hartkopp, became a Boulder Police officer in 1966 before Barry was born. One of Barry’s earliest memories with Boulder PD was sitting on the Boulder Police Wives Association float in a parade through downtown Boulder. 

While Barry grew up around the Boulder Police Department, initially, he did not have any desire to be a police officer. He was more interested in the medical field. That all changed when Barry turned 16 and did a ride along with his father, who was a Watch 3 sergeant at the time. After seeing the camaraderie, excitement and positive influence that good policing can have, Barry decided he wanted to be a Boulder police officer and focused all of his attention on that goal. 

In 1988, Barry was a college intern working at Boulder PD and he spent two months working on each of the Patrol watches as well as Dispatch and the Detective and Records Units. In 1989, after receiving his B.A. degree in Sociology, Barry was hired as a Property and Evidence technician. He spent six months in this role before being hired as a Boulder Police officer in 1990. 

Throughout his career at Boulder PD, Barry has held numerous assignments. He was part of the original University Hill Unit in 1993, and after becoming a detective in 1996, he was assigned to the newly formed Major Crimes Unit. 

Barry was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 2002 and planned on remaining a sergeant for the rest of his career. That all changed in 2021, he said, when he met Stephen Redfearn, who had recently been hired as the Deputy Chief of Operations at Boulder PD. Barry was inspired by Redfearn’s leadership and vision for policing – resulting in Barry advancing in his career to the rank of commander and later to deputy chief after Chief Redfearn was named police chief in 2024. 

Young Officer Barry Hartkopp

A newspaper photo shows then Detective Barry Hartkopp hugging his son Cody after receiving an award.

The desire to serve Boulder is strong in the Hartkopp family and history repeated itself in 2014 when Barry’s son Cody did a ride along with his father and decided that he too wanted to be a Boulder Police officer. In 2018, Cody became an officer, creating the first three-generation family of officers at Boulder PD. 

Three generations of Boulder Police Hartkopps.

Family takes photos during Cody Hartkopp's promotion to sergeant.

All of Barry’s family has had some involvement in public service. Barry’s wife served as a dispatcher for eight years. Although they met in college, they married in 1995 after she began her career in dispatching. Once they started a family, they worked opposite shifts, meeting in the police department parking lot to hand off their children as Barry ended his shift and his wife began hers.

Barry’s daughter graduated from college and began working as a paralegal for the prosecutor’s office in Boise, Idaho. She returned to the Boulder area and decided to try out the other table in the courtroom, working as a paralegal for a local criminal defense firm. 

Away from work, Barry is involved in hobbies that keep him centered on family and friends. He is an avid scuba diver, often spending time underwater searching for fossilized megalodon shark teeth. His largest find is a 4-inch tooth. He also enjoys camping each summer with his family and likes to build custom cornhole boards for friends.

Deputy Chief Hartkopp on a dive

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 Deputy Chief Hartkopp's contact information because he is as committed to our community as I am. Feel free to reach out to Barry anytime at HartkoppB@bouldercolorado.gov

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

Steve Redfearn, police chief
 

On Monday several members of the Boulder Police Department joined with several other Northern Colorado agencies as the North Central Colorado Regional Child Abduction Response Team (NCCR-CART) received its national certification.

Representatives with the U.S. Department of Justice 
and the Office of Justice Programs presented the certification and recognized a multi-agency commitment to rapid, coordinated response in child abduction 
cases.

The NCCR-CART was formed in 2014 as a collaborative, multi-agency initiative to help local jurisdictions respond quickly and effectively to cases involving abducted or endangered children. Over the past decade, the NCCR-CART has responded to missing children's cases 
across the Denver Metropolitan region, supporting local law enforcement agencies, communities, children and families. 

But we see you. Specifically, if you come to Boulder to commit crimes, we will find and arrest you.

After a rash of catalytic converter thefts at the same parking garage in south Boulder, Watch 3 officers parked nearby, walked to the garage and waited in the shadows.

About 20 minutes later, a truck pulled into the garage and slowly drove through, making several laps before parking next to a Subaru. Of the eight catalytic converter thefts in that garage, five of them involved Subarus.

Officer Diaz and Sergeant Conley whispered to each other and quietly coordinated the response of more officers. As they did, they heard cutting tool noises and knew what was going on. Watch some of their body worn camera video here.

They swiftly approached and arrested the suspect. Further investigation would reveal drug paraphernalia on the suspect and that had active warrants. He was taken to jail and booked on charges of theft, possession of burglary tools, criminal attempt, possession of drug paraphernalia and other warrants. He was released the next day after a judge gave him a personal recognizance bond. Our investigation remains ongoing as we believe this suspect may be connected to additional crimes.

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