AURORA | The city is starting to recruit its first public safety accountability monitor to establish a new office meant to be a watchdog over police, fire, 911 and detention.

The job application for the manager of the recently created Office of Public Safety Accountability will open on Aug. 24. The city is working with CPS HR Consulting for recruitment.

As part of the recruitment process, the city is collecting public feedback on what they are looking for in an accountability manager through an online survey at EngageAurora.org/AccountabilityManager.

The accountability manager position is a civilian role, whose duties will be to “monitor and review complaint investigations, critical incidents, public safety policies and systemic trends involving sworn public safety personnel,” according to the city. 

The manager will be hired by City Manager Jason Batchelor and report administratively to the city manager’s office, while providing information to the city council’s public safety committee. 

In June, the City Council created the Office of Public Safety Accountability to take over as an “independent monitor” for public safety. The city currently has a contracted public safety monitor, IntegrAssure, which was put in place as part of the consent decree.

The consent decree, which was established by Attorney General Phil Weiser in 2021, laid out mandates for Aurora’s police and fire departments after the attorney general found patterns and practices of racial bias and excessive use of force in the wake of Elijah McClain’s death. 

IntegrAssure has monitored the city’s progress on those mandates since 2022. Its most recent report, from April, found the police and fire departments are substantially compliant with the consent decree’s mandates. 

City council approved the creation of the Office of Public Safety Accountability to transition from IntegrAssure while maintaining ongoing monitoring. To conclude the consent decree process, IntegrAssure must make a request with the Arapahoe County District Court. The city said a termination date with IntegrAssure is not yet certain.

“Our plans to create this office and fill this position began in 2021 before the city entered the consent decree,” Batchelor said in a press release. “This is the natural next step in our commitment to continuous improvement. The Office of Public Safety Accountability is designed to integrate seamlessly with the Independent Consent Decree Monitor whose invaluable service to the city is expected to conclude in the next year.”  

Once hired, the manager will be able to hire an additional full-time staff member for the office.

The ordinance that established the Office of Public Safety Accountability says its mission will be “the furtherance of the reforms achieved under the Consent Decree and culture of continuous improvement.”

In addition to investigating critical incidents, the office will review and report on all public safety functions on an ongoing basis, including “use of force reviews, policy development, and department operations and performance meetings.” It will also release annual reports on its findings, as well as take complaints and commendations.

The office will work in conjunction with the city’s internal auditor and the Civil Service Commission, which oversees hiring, promotions and discipline for police and fire employees. 

Under the ordinance, the office would get “unrestricted access” to city employees, information, police records and electronic data, body-worn camera videos, property, equipment and facilities required for the office to conduct reviews and oversight. 

During the process to create the office, community members were mostly supportive of the new office, but some did raise some criticisms.

Cassandra Heil, from the Denver Aurora Community Action Committee, said she opposes the office because it “can document problems, write reports and make recommendations, but it cannot stop police misconduct from actually happening.”

MiDian Shofner, founder of the Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership, said the office has some strengths, like its notification requirement and family liaison, but was also concerned about the lack of authority and that there isn’t enough community engagement.

The ordinance establishing the office requires at least two community engagement sessions each year. It also requires the office to notify families of a critical incident within 48 hours and assign a liaison. 

There were also comments in support of the accountability office as a step in the right direction. Aaron Futrell said the office’s ability to provide independent oversight and share information with the community “is exactly the type of accountability that healthy institutions embrace.”

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