[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Additional retreat item: police housing

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Becker, KC

In light of recent events and our discussion on Tuesday night, I'd like to add one more topic to our retreat discussion.

Many community members have raised questions about the culture of Boulder's Police Department. I think Chief Beckner fairly addressed these questions in saying that his officers know that lying or deceit will not be tolerated, that they have rigorous hiring and training protocols, and that no police department is perfect but that they are working to improve all the time. 

Still, I think there are some things we, as a city council, can do to support our police department and our community at the same time. 

Boulder has a distinct and well-defined set of values that are as clearly drawn as the lines that mark our geographic boundaries.  It is important that these values be understood and shared by our police officers. Yet I have heard, anecdotally, that only 3 of 180 police officers live in the city of Boulder, and even this number may not be correct. I think that providing opportunities and incentives for more officers to live in Boulder will provide benefits to our officers, our police department, and our community. 

I'd therefore like to add to the Housing Division's work plan an item that would explore the technical, legal, and financial ability of the city to incentivize Boulder Police officers to live in the city.  Although we have a robust and well-established affordable housing program in place, it is not, to my knowledge, able to attract this one, important group, to live in Boulder.  Can we legally target this one group? What would it take to get more officers living in the city? Is there something we can do differently to make this happen?  Is there interest by officers in living here? 

Of course, I'm not sure that if we get even 3 or 4 or 5 officers to live in Boulder that it will create a greater sense of shared values. But I'm willing to give it a try. I obviously think Boulder is a great place to live and if more Boulder officers would like to live in the city they serve, I'd like to help make that happen. 

I'd also like to discuss adding a requirement that the next hire of a Police Chief (which may be a long time from now) live in Boulder.  We currently require that the City Manager, City Attorney and the Planning Director, live in the city. Boulder is unique and while I don't doubt one bit our current Police Chief's knowledge and dedication to our city, I think it could be prudent to require that our next chief live in Boulder. I know that Council cannot weigh in on personnel matters, but I believe there is precedent in Council requiring that certain top city executives live in the city. The police chief seems a natural position for this to be so.