Community members had another opportunity to voice their concerns about the Aurora Police Department during a discussion with Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain.
But, once again, a lot of dialogue led to no concrete promises of change.
Outgoing state Sen. Rhonda Fields of Aurora hosted the event titled “A Seat At The Table with Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain” at the Aurora Center for Active Adults Thursday.
It is the second meeting the incoming Arapahoe County Commissioner has hosted since Chamberlain was sworn into the position in September. The first public discussion was held at the Dayton Street Opportunity Center in October. That meeting was an opportunity for Chamberlain to discuss his background and leadership philosophy with the community.
Fields sought a different approach with the 20 people who were in attendance at Thursday’s event.
Organizations such as the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, Arapahoe County Racial Equity Subcommittee of the Arapahoe County Justice Coordinating Committee, and Family Tree were represented during the discussion.
“The whole objective for this meeting is for the chief to understand the people in the community who are engaged, who love Aurora, who have concerns about issues, and they want to advance them and elevate it,” Fields said.
Todd Chamberlain responded to questions about police violence and officers at the Trump rally
Even though those were the intentions, Chamberlain still faced questions about recent officer-involved shootings and the Aurora Police officers’ presence at the Trump Rally that was held at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center in October.
Nicholas Walker, a resident in the Lynn Knoll neighborhood, asked why more Black men are dying when confronted by Aurora Police Officers as opposed to other races. Chamberlain responded that was 100 percent not the case.
“When you look at the demographics of the city, when you look at the dynamics of how this city is set up, again, this is an incredibly, incredibly diverse city,” Chamberlain said. “We have everybody here that you could imagine. We have Black, Hispanic, and White.”
Last month, the Aurora Police Department released its report on the use of force in 2023. Almost 39 percent of use of force incidents involved the Black community. As of Dec. 3, that number has remained steady in over 610 incidents this year. Chamberlain responded that racial bias has not been the case since he took over.
Chamberlain also noted three officer-involved shootings that occurred since his hiring. In those cases, one of the people was Black, another Hispanic and one White.
In another case, APD recently ruled that the officer who shot and killed Kilyn Lewis, a 37-year-old unarmed Black man, did not violate agency policy and was welcomed back on the force. That incident occurred months before Chamberlain’s hiring.
Chamberlain stood firm on APD’s presence at President Donald Trump’s rally a month before he was elected to a second term. Officers have faced criticism for recruiting at the event after the returning President made remarks about the presence of a Venezuelan prison gang in local apartment complexes.
“I hope one thing that's very clear to everybody, whether you believe it or whether you don't, law enforcement is completely apolitical. I don't care what party you are,” Chamberlain said. “I don't care what you vote for, what you don't vote for, I don't care what you believe in, what you don't believe in. I don't care what you demonstrate, what you do demonstrate for law enforcement will be there to support you.”
The chief's language and reliance on statistics drew pushback from some participants
Chamberlain’s use of “don’t care” stood out to Marlon Sango, a licensed therapist. He noted how powerful those words can be in attempting to explain APD’s unbiasedness in its policing.
“You keep saying, I don't care. And, there are people that care and I know you care,” Sango said. “But at the same time when you use the language of 'I don't care,' now, you can't speak for yourself when you speak for a whole police force and all the police officers may not feel the way that you do.”
Sango also explained that statistics isn’t the best way for APD to address concerns with the community.
“You have to acknowledge that people are seeing and hearing things and that is going on in their world. We know that perception is a very powerful thing.” Sango said. “A lot of people don't know statistics. They know what they see and what they perceive and that is very real to them. And if you're not catering to that and you're catering to statistics, then you're missing the connection with the people.”
Because the police chief only gave the event an hour, relationship-building was limited
Due to the limited time, some of those who expressed concerns to Chamberlain were answered briefly. Other concerns were written down to be emailed to him after the discussion.
Afterward, Fields thought there was a great turnout and was pleased with the participation. But, she was still intrigued by Chamberlain’s responses.
Time played a role in how much was addressed during the latest meeting. Fields noted that she was given only an hour by Chamberlain.
“It takes time to bridge those relationships, and you have to want to do it,” Fields said. “Relationships are like two ways. So, if you don't want to invest in that civic engagement and building trust and rapport. That's something you can't legislate and you can't mandate because it's based on his time and his availability.”
Fields was given the same amount of time at her last event. But, Chamberlain was willing to extend his time which carried on for about two hours. He said he’s open to long public discussions in the future.
“What I want to do is make sure that the meetings are productive and make sure we're getting all the concerns and it doesn't become a platform or something that's not positive,” Chamberlain said. “That is exchanging information. That's having dialogue. That's building bridges. And so that's definitely, whatever that takes, we'll get there. And whether it's a bunch of small ones to build up normalcy and just understanding and seeing familiarity or whether it's the longer ones, we will get there.”
