AURORA, Colo. — As Aurora residents wait to be informed about what will happen next in the process for selecting the city’s next police chief, some community organizers are hoping a series of meetings with the community will help improve the relationship between officers and residents.
“I'm grateful for the opportunity and the fact that there's a want to repair the things that we know exist within the City of Aurora and the police department and the community, so we can start building a relationship that is conducive for everyone that lives in this space,” Shana Shaw, Aurora Community Liaison said.
Shaw said she’s been trying to facilitate meaningful community meetings between APD an Aurora residents for months.
But following the uproar over the lack of diversity among the finalists for Aurora Police Chief, APD has shown interest in planning a series of conversations.
“We want to capture everyone and not just one particular part of the city,” Shaw said.
Shaw said the plan is to start these conversations in various parts of the city by the end of October and continue them through the end of the year.
One of the community events will be held at Global Village Academy, an international school that serves students from many different cultures.
“And our police department needs to look like that and be representative of our community,” Shaw said.
Shaw said the goal of these meetings is to be proactive instead of reactive.
“We've done the protesting, we've done, you know, we've done the complaining. There's been the shootings, there's been the misrepresentations. And it's just time to do something different so that we get different results,” Shaw said.
Shaw said she hopes these conversations are productive so the next time civil unrest unfolds, APD and community members will already have a foundation of trust to build on.
On Tuesday, the city of Aurora announced it will continue its search for a new police chief and will not currently move forward with the two finalists named last month after they met with the community and city leadership over the past several weeks.