Some members of Boulder’s Police Oversight Panel are sounding the alarm that structural changes may be quietly eroding the panel’s independence.
At the panel’s November 10 meeting, Police Monitor Sherry Daun announced that the panel would no longer review every internal investigation into complaints of officer misconduct. Going forward, Daun said she would close certain cases without panel input if she and the department’s Professional Standards Unit (PSU) determine that complaints are unfounded or that officers should be exonerated. Daun added that the ordinance grants her “sole authority to classify those complaints” — a claim the panel has contested.
That dispute over authority is part of a broader pattern. In recent months, the city has narrowed the number of cases the panel can review, denied its request to hire independent counsel, and told members they cannot meet privately to discuss these disputes. The panel was created in 2020 specifically to provide independent civilian oversight after an officer drew his weapon on Zayd Atkinson, a Black student picking up trash outside his own home. The cumulative effect of these changes has raised serious concerns about whether the panel retains any meaningful independence at all…