NAACP Boulder County asks oversight panel to investigate interim police chief's background

Jan. 13—NAACP Boulder County has asked the Boulder Police Oversight Panel if it has the power to investigate the background of Interim Police Chief Stephen Redfearn, who earlier this week was promoted after Police Chief Maris Herold suddenly resigned.

Members of the local NAACP branch openly called for Redfearn's resignation late last year over his involvement and testimony in the Elijah McClain case.

Redfearn, who joined the Boulder police in September 2021 as the deputy police chief after more than two decades with the Aurora police, testified in late September on behalf of the the prosecution in the trial of two Aurora police officers charged in McClain's death.

CPR News reported that on the night of McClain's encounter with police, Redfearn was a captain on duty. He testified that he received a call about the incident, treated it as a "critical incident" and updated the dispatch code from "suspicious person" to "assault on an officer."

Redfearn admitted to making those changes based on information from officers and without conducting his own investigation of the incident, according to CPR. He said he took this action because an officer claimed McClain had tried to grab a gun, and there was no dispatch code category for attempting to disarm an officer.

"In his position and with his extensive experience as an officer, it is incredulous that Night Duty Police Captain Redfearn would not, at a minimum, have engaged in a cursory assessment of the scene of the incident prior to adjusting the call log," NAACP Boulder County wrote in a statement last fall. "It reeks of a cover-up in which Redfearn apparently found it unnecessary and irrelevant to question or investigate the report by the officers, thereby creating a pathway for the supposed justification ('assault on a police officer') of the brutal murder of Elijah McClain."

The civil rights group continued to escalate its demands for Redfearn's resignation — and for Herold's, since she was responsible for hiring him — even after Boulder City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde rebutted the group's factual allegations against Redfearn.

'There's limits to what we can do'

On Wednesday evening, hours after Boulder publicly announced Herold's resignation and Redfearn's ascension to the top position in the city's police department, the Police Oversight Panel held its monthly all-panel meeting. The panel is responsible for reviewing investigations of civilian complaints against Boulder police officers, making recommendations for discipline where necessary, and making policy and training recommendations to the police.

NAACP Boulder County representatives Annett James and Jude Landsman spoke during open comment at Wednesday's POP meeting. James asked panelists if they had any comment regarding Redfearn's promotion and whether it would be within their purview to review his history relating to the McClain case.

"I would also like to recommend to the panel that you understand the gravity of the position that you have, and how that influences community and our ability to feel safe and be safe," James said. "I would encourage this panel to fulfill the mission that this panel originally had, which was to build bridges between community and law enforcement."

Landsman followed up James' request by saying the panel had not met with the NAACP or El Centro Amistad, two community organizations that have been involved with the panel since its inception, and that she hoped the POP would be an "effective means ... for community members to feel that their voice can be heard" around the issue of policing.

"I would really encourage you to listen to the community. Community members should not feel safe with Interim Chief Redfearn," Landsman said. "Please take us seriously. We do not intend to be adversarial. We intend to be a voice."

In response to James' and Landsman's comments, numerous panel members said they don't believe the panel has the authority to investigate Redfearn's history.

"I'm not aware that the (Police Oversight) Ordinance gives us any purview to look into the specific job history," said panel co-chair Victor King. "Yes, we are the panel, but there's limits to what we can do. And so we operate within those limits. Things are not perfect, and that's just the way things are."

What exactly the panel's job is, and what it has the ability to do, has been a source of confusion since the panel was first formed in 2020. Last year, the City Council approved an overhaul of Boulder's Police Oversight Ordinance, which governs the panel, and some of the changes to the ordinance were aimed at clarifying the role and scope of the panel.

Panel's role

This is not the first time NAACP Boulder County has asked the POP to take up a cause on its behalf. Two years ago, the local NAACP branch asked the POP to review a closed investigation into a 2014 complaint against the late Officer Eric Talley, who was killed in the King Soopers shooting in March 2021. The complaint was filed by a Black man who said Talley pulled him over for unsafe driving while off duty and held him at gunpoint.

An initial investigation by police found the allegations against Talley could not be substantiated. Then-Independent Police Monitor Joey Lipari also reviewed the investigation, finding that Talley could have been exonerated on one of the rule violations and that the other could not be substantiated. After consulting with legal counsel, the POP denied the NAACP's request, saying it did not have the legal authority to review cases where the police department had already made a determination.

Members of the NAACP were not pleased with that outcome. At the time, they said the organization had played a critical role in establishing the POP, and James told panelists that if they refused to review the case, it would "change the NAACP's perspective" on the panel, and the organization would push for a "restructure" or a liaison.

On Wednesday evening, Landsman reiterated that she, as a member of the NAACP, had been "integrally involved" in the call for police oversight in Boulder since before the panel's inception.

Reached for comment, Landsman said she sees asking the panel to investigate Redfearn's background as fundamentally different from NAACP Boulder County's previous request for the panel to review the case involving Talley.

"Talley had a complaint lodged against him that we asked to be re-investigated and we pursued it after seeing how biased the police investigation was of its own. Our objections to Redfearn are based on his behavior and testimony related to Elijah McClain's murder and his actions during a memorial vigil," Landsman wrote in a statement. "Redfearn has misrepresented himself in that civil case."

Landsman clarified that NAACP Boulder County "continues to object" to Redfearn's position regardless of what position the POP takes or whether the panel can accommodate the NAACP's request.