Public commenters tell panel they distrust BPD; protester requests private follow-up

Several members of the public addressed the panel during the public-comment period, expressing distrust of the Boulder Police Department and asking for follow-up about specific incidents.

Lynn Siegel, a member of the public, described longstanding distrust of the department, recounted past personal experiences she said diminished her trust and criticized recent police record-keeping and incident classification. Lynn said she would not call police if she feared for her life and urged the panel to note community distrust.

A second speaker, Zade Atkinson, identified a current protest against RTD alleged racial discrimination on Pearl Street and Broadway and said he had been protesting daily. Atkinson said he could not share sensitive information on record and asked the panel to follow up privately. He reported receiving help from an African American officer who assisted him in complying with the law during a period of acute distress and asked the panel to allow private sharing of other sensitive allegations; he offered to share a petition link privately for the panel to circulate.

Panel staff offered to accept follow-up materials by email so the panel and monitor could review details off the public record and to set up a private conversation if requested. The public-comment remarks were not votes or formal actions but were recorded in the meeting minutes.

Why it matters: public comments underscore community concerns about trust and surveillance, and the panel recorded requests for private follow-up on sensitive allegations. The panel directed staff to accept submitted materials via official email channels rather than social-media messages.