Steve Redfearn named Boulder police chief as department faces reform demands

Boulder’s city manager has appointed Steve Redfearn as the city’s next police chief, marking the latest change to the department as it faces demands for reform. 

Redfearn, who has served as interim chief since January 2024, joined the city’s police department in 2021. He has pledged to make policing more “equitable and effective.”

“We’ll do this through a re-evaluation of our policies, best-practices training, a focus on employee well-being, and absolutely, a renewed commitment to engaging with community. That is what policing is about,” Redfearn said in a statement on Friday, Sept 6. 

Before his time in Boulder, Redfearn served 22 years with the Aurora Police Department, an experience that has earned him some criticism. He was a captain in 2019 when officers confronted Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died after being forcibly arrested and administered a sedative. Redfearn called in a critical incident team to investigate the arrest. He also altered the dispatch logs that night to describe the event as an “assault on a police officer” rather than a “suspicious person.”

Some members of the NAACP Boulder County have called for his resignation. They cite his ties to the Aurora Police Department, which has been accused of biased policing and excessive force, and his decision to modify the call logs in McClain’s arrest. Redfearn previously told Boulder Reporting Lab that he chose the closest available dispatch code for the incident based on the information he had at the time.

Others in the community point out that Redfearn testified against his former colleagues after leaving Aurora. And while serving as interim police chief, Redfearn implemented a new policy of maintaining records of original and updated call logs, according to city officials. Any changes to the logs will also require approval from a supervisor.

Redfearn, who is gay, has said he knows what it feels like to be treated differently, adding that he cannot fully understand the experience of being a person of color. 

“We’ve learned, loud and clear, that the way we’ve historically operated in this profession, especially with regard to historically marginalized communities, is not working,” he said at a recent community forum. 

As Boulder’s permanent police chief, Redfearn will continue to implement the department’s “reimagining policing” plan, which aims to prevent crime by focusing on high-risk areas. He has also advocated for a new program targeting “high-utilizers,” or people frequently ticketed or treated at Boulder Community Health Hospital. Redfearn has acknowledged that it is ineffective to repeatedly ticket and arrest homeless people. 

Redfearn will have to work with Boulder’s Police Oversight Panel, a volunteer-led group created in 2020 after a city officer pulled a gun on an unarmed Black college student picking up trash outside his home. The 11-member panel reviews investigations into complaints of officer misconduct.

“I am honored to be able to lead the talented officers and employees of the Boulder Police Department as we work collaboratively and pro-actively with our community to make policing equitable and effective in its core mission,” he said in the news release. “We often think about our role ‘to protect and serve,’ but we also have an opportunity and an obligation to prevent harm.” 

Redfearn succeeds Maris Herold, Boulder’s first female police chief, who resigned in January 2024 to join the U.S. Department of Justice as an adviser. The city received 30 applications for the police chief position and hosted a public forum last week with three finalists before selecting Redfearn.

“I have watched Steve take on the challenges that face his profession with heart, strategic thinking and a clear understanding that policing needs to change,” City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde said in the release. 

Redfearn will oversee a department with a budget of approximately $43 million and 280 full-time employees, including 190 sworn officers. The department currently has 14 officer vacancies.