Attorney General, City of Aurora Agree on Consent Decree to Improve Policing

Following a whirlwind of events over the past several years that has placed Aurora Police front-and-center on the national stage in talking about police brutality, racism, and public trust of the institution, Attorney General Phil Weiser and Aurora city officials have reached an agreement on a consent decree, which aims to improve policing and protect public safety.

Following issues identified from a report on the practices of the Aurora Police Department and Aurora Fire Rescue, leaders sought to reach an agreement on how to address the issues in the study.

Attorney General Weiser was joined by City Manager Jim Twombly, Police Chief Vanessa Wilson, and Fire Chief Fernando Gray at the Aurora Municipal Center to announce the consent decree, which states the specific commitments on behalf of the Aurora Police Department, Aurora Fire Rescue, and the Aurora Civil Service Commission, with oversight of an independent consent decree monitor, to improve their practices and ensure they are complying with state and federal law.

“This consent decree will elevate policing and improve public safety in the City of Aurora. The hard work ahead will be to build trust in law enforcement, operate with a spirit of continuous improvement, and protect public safety using legal and just means,” Weiser says. “Working together, we can protect public safety and civil rights by working with law enforcement to improve how it operates in Aurora. As the city does this important work, our department will support it and do all we can to ensure that it succeeds in delivering on its commitments.”

The consent decree builds on recent efforts from Aurora to improve policing and public safety. Specifically, the draft decree unveiled this week builds a framework to address the following issues:

• Creating specific guidance on police officers’ exercise of discretion during interactions with community members to address perceived or actual bias in policing;
• Improving use-of-force policies and training to avoid unnecessarily escalating encounters with community members;
• Promoting and improving the hiring of qualified police officers and firefighters to better reflect the city’s diversity;
• Developing a new system to collect data about police interactions with members of the community as required by law; and
• Ensuring the lawful administration of chemical sedatives and requiring review of policies and procedures by the independent consent decree monitor before ketamine may be used again.

Each of these items also require the city to meet important milestones, with the independent monitor providing regular public updates to the court and working alongside Aurora to ensure the changes are reflective of best practices and input from the community.

The consent decree will last about five years, though the exact time depends on how long it takes the city to implement the changes and comply with the requirements of the decree.