Time's Up Todd! You Let Killer Cops on the Loose

The Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee's current goal on our way to getting community control of the police is getting Todd Chamberlain out of his position as police chief. He has shown time and again that he will protect his killer cop friends over the community.

Our community continues to bleed under a police department that has not been held accountable. The previous council failed us. They failed Kory Dillard, Rashaud Johnson, Rajon Belt-Stubblefield, and 17-year-old Blaze Balle-Mason. They failed Kilyn Lewis and his family. They failed every resident living under the shadow of a department found guilty of systemic racism and violence.

His selection was an anti-democratic betrayal to Aurorans, decided behind closed doors without the consent of the people he is supposed to serve. His record since taking office is not one of reform, but of perpetuating the very patterns that placed APD under a consent decree.

He is not a solution; he is the embodiment of the problem. He has proven he cannot be trusted with the safety of our community or the truth. 

Therefore, our demands are clear and non-negotiable: 

FIRST: We demand that Todd Chamberlain resign immediately. His moral authority is gone. If he refuses, The city council must use its power to remove him. 

SECOND: We demand that the process for selecting the next police chief be fully open, democratic, and firmly controlled by civilians. No more backroom deals. The people of Aurora must have a direct say in who is entrusted with power and a gun. 

And THIRD: a fundamental demand for lasting change: We demand that this council work with community organizations like DACAC to create a Civilian Police Accountability Council - a CPAC. (Sign our CPAC petition here) This must be a democratically elected body of civilians, with no ties to law enforcement, granted the ultimate authority over APD policy, discipline, budgets, and hiring. True oversight must be independent and powerful.

The new city council ran on explicit platforms of police reform and transparency. We demand they begin that work by correcting a grave injustice enacted by their predecessors: the appointment of Police Chief Todd Chamberlain.

Aurora has a choice. We can remain a national symbol of police brutality, or we can become national leaders in community-led justice. The consent decree is a mandate for change, not a checkbox for the status quo.