Boulder’s City Attorney’s Office has cleared Police Oversight Panel co-chair Maria Soledad Diaz of wrongdoing, concluding an investigation into a formal complaint the Boulder Police Officers Association filed against her in January alleging bias.
The complaint marked the first time the union has targeted an individual panel member with such a filing.
“The investigation is complete and it was determined that Maria-Soledad Diaz did not violate the city’s Code of Conduct based upon her participation in Panel decisions and in statements she has made,” Shannon Aulabaugh, a spokesperson for the city, told Boulder Reporting Lab in an email.
In the complaint, Boulder police union president Bryan Plyter accused Diaz of bias and undermining confidence in the city’s system for reviewing police misconduct complaints. Boulder Reporting Lab reported on the complaint on March 3. The panel discussed it publicly for the first time at its most recent meeting last week.
“I do feel unsafe. The complaint was filed by the whole police union, which is very scary,” Diaz said during the meeting. “It’s a challenge to our systems. It’s a challenge for all panel members.”
The 11-member panel reviews internal investigations into complaints of officer misconduct and makes recommendations to the police chief. One allegation in the complaint cites an April 2025 misconduct case involving officers who responded to a medical call in which the complainant alleged officers used force and discriminated against her. Diaz was one of three panel members who reviewed the case and sustained discrimination allegations against two officers.
Panel member Bill de la Cruz, who joined Diaz in recommending the discrimination findings, was not named in the complaint. He said all three members who reviewed the case should have been named. He and other panel members said everyone has biases.
“If accountability for us is a complaint, then you all better get your pens ready, because we’re not going to stop talking about what we believe is true and why we are part of this panel,” he said. He also suggested the panel hold a public meeting with the police union.
Public investigation records available through open records laws indicate which panel members reviewed a case but not necessarily how individual members voted on allegations. Panel member Turner Land said the complaint reveals that officers have some visibility into their reviews.
“If they can see that, how does that ensure a fair and secure process?” Land said.
Diaz is not the only panel member to have faced a complaint that the city ultimately rejected. Former panel member Mylene Vialard was named in a separate complaint filed in December 2025 by Aaron Brooks, a Boulder resident and frequent attendee of city council meetings, who alleged her participation in a pro-Palestine protest violated the city’s code of conduct. A city attorney deemed that complaint “unfounded and without merit.”
In light of the complaint against Diaz and a recent city policy limiting the panel’s ability to review certain cases, Vialard warned incoming panel members that they are “entering a panel in crisis.”
“You’re in for a ride,” Vialard said. “We’re being intimidated. We’re being bullied.”
Plyter, president of the police union, told Boulder Reporting Lab that the union’s executive board voted to submit the complaint.
“The allegation that this complaint is a form of intimidation has no basis and another example of concerning things certain panel members have said publicly about our members,” he wrote in an email.
In the coming weeks, Plyter said he has plans to meet with de la Cruz, Police Chief Steve Redfearn and Sergeant Sterling Ekwo, who serves as a police department liaison to the oversight panel.
Update: This story was update at 12:30 p.m. on March 18 with a link to the report by City Attorney’s Office.
So the police decide what matters go before the oversight panel. The oversight panel’s finding are nonbinding. The police chief himself, who was directly involved in one of the most egregious civil rights violations in recent history and faced zero consequences, decides if the complaints have merit.
The police and union continue to undermind and intimidate the panel members.
Am I missing something? Why are the Boulder Police so allergic to transparency and accountability?