The City of Boulder revealed Oct. 16 that it filed a complaint to the national NAACP in September after a local branch of the organization “threatened” to release a transcript of a meeting with City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde and the city’s newly appointed police chief, Stephen Redfearn. An excerpt of that transcript was published by the NAACP in an Oct. 11 statement.
The Boulder County NAACP statement criticized Redfearn’s September appointment and called him “demonstrably anti-Black” and “dangerously culturally incompetent.” The group has previously called for his resignation, in part because of his involvement the night of 23-year-old Elijah McClain’s killing.
According to the transcript of the July meeting, Redfearn told NAACP branch president Annett James, “You're smirking at me.” James responded by saying Redfearn was “tone-policing” her: “This is the kind of thing that white police do when they shoot Black people, right?”
“It is extraordinary for any police officer in the year 2024 to be this incompetent, let alone promoted to a position where lives are at stake,” the release said.
On Wednesday, Oct. 16, Boulder officials responded by saying the NAACP transcript was “incomplete …. misleading” and recorded without the city’s knowledge in violation of an agreement signed by all in attendance. A copy of the agreement was provided; the city did not provide a transcript.
According to the city’s release, a “disrespectful” exchange between Redfearn and NAACP member Darren O’Connor preceded Redfearn’s exchange with James. In it, Redfearn “shared his experience of being outed as a gay man during his time with the Aurora Police Department and the impact this experience had on him.” O’Connor responded by saying “that he doesn’t really care who Chief Redfearn ‘sticks his (expletive) in.’”
Redfearn told O’Connor the comment was offensive and that his marriage was “based on deep connection and love.” O’Connor then “explained that this was how he speaks to his friends who are gay” and apologized, according to the release.
“Understandably,” the city wrote, “Chief Redfearn was emotional. As tears of frustration sprung to his eyes, he stepped away, asking for a moment to compose himself.”
The city’s release also said O’Connor and James “threatened” to release the recording of the July meeting if Redfearn was selected as police chief.
In the release, Rivera-Vandermyde called the organization’s actions “unethical and unacceptable.”
“I am proud of how Chief Redfearn has conducted himself amid the Boulder County NAACP’s concerns,” she said, “and I stand by my decision to appoint him to this important leadership position in our community.”
Rivera-Vandermyde selected Redfearn as police chief in early September after a nationwide search. Redfearn, who has served as interim police chief since January, first came to BPD in 2021 after serving for 22 years in Aurora’s Police Department, which the NAACP Boulder County said is “a department well-known for consistent practices of discriminatory and brutal practices.”
“NAACP strenuously objects to the sham of a police chief search conducted at city taxpayer expense,” the NAACP release said.
The group has previously called for Redfearn’s resignation, in part because of his involvement the night of 23-year-old Elijah McClain’s killing. Redfearn was the captain on duty the night McClain, who was Black, died after being restrained by police using a now-banned chokehold and was injected with a lethal dose of ketamine by paramedics. Redfearn changed the call type in dispatch records from “a suspicious person” to “an assault on an officer,” based on reports from officers at the scene.
According to the city release, Redfearn “was not on scene at the time of Elijah’s death and the steps he took as part of a subsequent Critical Incident investigation were not only commonly accepted practices in policing, but ultimately led to an independent review of the incident.”
While interim chief, he implemented a new practice of maintaining both the original call type and any updated potential information, with changes requiring supervisor approval, according to the release.
But the NAACP Boulder County maintains that the call type change was a cover-up attempt and that Redfearn has “continued to evade accountability for his actions.”