A recent internal audit of the Boulder Police Department has resulted in a determination of officer misconduct in the force’s investigations unit.
As part of her ongoing reform efforts since she was hired, Police Chief Maris Herold requested the department review its case management system. While upgrading data and transitioning to a new open data portal, department officials became aware of cases assigned to detectives that had not been investigated or investigated fully between 2019 and the present.
Upon the discovery of this issue, in July 2022, the police chief immediately brought it to the attention of the Professional Standards Unit and the Independent Police Monitor, with allegations of several different rule and policy violations made against five officers: the detective and four others within his chain of command.
A subsequent internal Professional Standards Unit investigation sustained the violations against all five officers. The offers received disciplinary action ranging from suspensions without pay to transfers.
“I regret that this happened and consider it a serious situation,” Chief Herold said. “We had an employee who apparently became overwhelmed. He has since been reassigned from the Investigations Unit.”
Remediation Steps
In addition to imposing discipline, the department has taken the following significant steps to address this situation and prevent it from reoccurring:
- A preliminary and ongoing analysis was conducted of the detective’s caseload.
- The department has rewritten its investigations’ case management policy to provide for workload standards, including limiting the number of cases any one detective may handle, ensuring a regular review of open cases by supervisors, and imposing time limits for investigations.
- The department has launched its new data portal for case management, allowing supervisors and managers real time access to case status and assignments.
“Our department understands the tremendous responsibility it has to investigate reported crimes diligently and in a timely manner. This is a sacred trust our community has placed in us,” Herold said. “We take this responsibility seriously.” 