Ordinance 8609 was adopted by the City Council on Oct. 19, 2023. The ordinance amends Title 2, Chapter 11 of the Boulder Revised Code, establishing the Office of the Independent Monitor and the Police Oversight Panel.
The Council created the role of the Monitor to review the handling of complaints, to analyze trends in policing and to recommend improvements to police practices, as well as to increase transparency around police oversight.
The monitor assists the panel by providing summaries of complaints and complaint investigations, data on monthly statistics, analysis of local policing trends and access to national best practices. The monitor also organizes and facilitates training for panel members.
The Police Oversight Panel was created by the Council to increase community involvement in police oversight and to ensure that historically excluded communities have a voice in police oversight. The ordinance established the Police Oversight Panel an independent entity supported by the Office of the Independent Police Monitor.
Panel responsibilities include reviewing completed internal complaint investigations, recommending disposition and discipline for those complaints, and to making policy and training recommendations to the department. The panel may also identify analyses that they would like the monitor to conduct.
A 2024 state law requiring the automatic sealing of certain court records in low-level cases was intended to help reduce barriers for individuals. However, it has also created an oversight challenge, in some cases, by prohibiting access to evidence needed to review misconduct complaints. Addressing this unintended consequence will require a legislative fix, and the Monitor will continue to follow the issue.
