October Message from Chief Redfearn

Greetings Boulder, and Happy October!

As of this writing, I have officially been your new Chief of Police for a little over a month, and it has been a busy one.

As you likely know, we were able to close a tough chapter in our city with the King Soopers mass shooting trial coming to an end with the outcome we desired: a guilty verdict. As I said in the press conference after the trial, I was incredibly proud of our officers, staff, and our community for their resilience, bravery, and perseverance.

Chief Redfearn speaks to members of the media after the King Soopers trial verdict.

If you watched the trial, you heard countless stories of heroism by our officers, running toward gunfire, including the story of Officer Eric Talley who selflessly laid his life down for his community. As difficult as these stories were to hear, it reminded me of just how important our police officers and support staff are in standing between order and chaos.

I would be remiss if I did not thank our partners at the District Attorney's Office for their exceptional work on this case. We are so lucky in Boulder to work with such an incredible group of women and men in our D.A.'s Office. Their care and compassion during this case was unmatched.

Despite being officially named chief the first week in September, we waited until last week to hold an official swearing-in ceremony because of schedules and to ensure many of our family, friends and professional colleagues could attend. It was such an amazing event, and I am so grateful for the community support. I also loved having my mother pin on my new badge as she has pinned on my badge at every stage of my career.

Chief Redfearn smiles as his mom pins on his new chief badge.

Another highlight of that event was the official swearing-in of Deputy Chief Barry Hartkopp. Barry has been your Interim Deputy Chief since January and has assisted me during my time as Interim Chief. Barry's performance was exemplary, making it an easy choice to promote him to the permanent position. Barry will serve as the Deputy Chief of Operations, overseeing nearly all of the day-to-day work of the uniformed officers in our agency.

Detective Cody Hartkopp, the deputy chief's son, pinned on his father's new badge. The Hartkopps have three generations of service in the community. Deputy Chief Hartkopp's father retired from Boulder Police as a commander in 1996 after serving as a police officer for 29 years.

It's hard to believe Halloween is just a few weeks away so I wanted to remind everyone to please be safe while having fun. If you go trick or treating, make sure your little goblins and ghouls are careful when crossing the street, can be well seen and if you're driving, please be extra cautious of the increased pedestrian traffic.

Steve Redfearn, police chief