Progress being made on Police Oversight Ordinance – Boulder Daily Ca…

Officials said Wednesday night that progress is being made toward a modified Police Oversight Ordinance during Boulder’s Police Oversight Panel meeting.

Modifying this ordinance, which created the panel and governs its operations, was a primary reason behind the panel’s decision in May to pause many of its operations. Late last month, Boulder City Council also approved a partial moratorium on the panel’s work to help support the panel as it works to draft a new version of the ordinance.

Farah Muscadin, a consultant for the city who has been working closely with the panel’s Police Oversight Ordinance work group, spoke about a recent community engagement event regarding the ordinance, which she said “went really, really well.” Boulder hosted a community conversation on June 21 at which members of the community could give feedback about potential changes to the ordinance.

Muscadin said at the meeting that much of the feedback given centered around the issue of trust.

“There’s just a lack of trust in every direction — (the) community, the panel, the police department — and so finding a way to kind of reset and rebuild that trust” was a theme from the feedback, she said.

There were also numerous comments about the panelist selection process and the language about “perceived bias,” which came into play when former panelist Lisa Sweeney-Miran was removed from the panel by City Council on allegations of bias.

Additionally, Muscadin said, there is significant confusion about the scope of the panel and what it can and cannot do.

“There’s a misalignment of expectations, and I think that causes tension,” she said, adding that consistent and clear communication about the panel would be essential to remedying the confusion.

The ordinance work group has had four meetings so far, and Muscadin said the work on the ordinance thus far had been “like a puzzle.”

“Each meeting we take a piece, and then I’m putting the pieces of the puzzle together and we read it as we go along. So the pieces that we’ve discussed so far, (we’re) putting them together in a working draft, and the work group is going to go over that. And then we’re going to keep plugging away and continue adding to it until we get the whole puzzle,” Muscadin said.

The work group expects to have a working draft of the ordinance by next week, but has not yet discussed the issue of the panelist selection process. Muscadin said she plans to brief City Council on progress on the ordinance on July 27, and she expects a finalized ordinance will be ready to present to City Council in October.

Participants in the working group described the meetings so far as productive and valuable, though not always easy.

“We have different perspectives of how we think oversight should be done, specifically in the city of Boulder, and so sometimes that can get a little spicy,” said panel co-chair Hadasa Villalobos. ” And I do feel like we’ve had very productive conversations. … I’m very hopeful that we will find something that will work for all parties involved.”

Earlier in the meeting, new panelists Lizzie Friend and Arlette “AB” Barlow briefly introduced themselves. Friend, who works for Denver’s Department of Public Health and Environment, acknowledged that it’s “been a very tough time for the panel” and said she is impressed by how the panel has navigated its recent challenges.

Barlow, a life coach and ceramicist, said she’s “happy to be here” and “eager to be a part of what we’re creating.”

Shortly after the introductions, panel co-chair Daniel Leonard also announced that Sam Zhang had resigned from the panel for personal reasons.

“I want to … publicly thank (Zhang) for his service,” Leonard said. “And I’m hopeful there will be opportunities for Sam to still participate in work with us.”

Zhang was a co-chair of the panel’s Legacy Committee alongside Bwembya Chikolwa, and Chikolwa will continue to lead the committee after Zhang’s departure.