public safety
Crime statistics vary at different points in time, but the overall importance of public safety is a constant in this community. I am an advocate for the full funding of our police department, in order to permit it to carry out its mission to protect the people of Boulder. Unfortunately, we have joined other cities in our increased vulnerability to crime. When I first moved here I never locked my car or house door, but that seems like an eon ago. Now I would never think about leaving either open. Today, bike thefts (including thefts from locked garages) are commonplace, threatening behavior on the Boulder Creek Path or the Pearl Street Mall is frequent, and the overall sense that we live in a safe community has badly eroded. We have even had gunfire up on the Hill.
But that is the bad news. The good news is that we have a terrific police department, led by Chief Stephen Redfearn, who is dedicated to modernization and data-driven police policies. And we now have a community that recognizes the value of public safety and its importance in maintaining Boulder as a vibrant, attractive place to live. The success of the Safe Zones 4 Kids initiative in 2023 is a testament to this sentiment.
I place public safety at the highest level of my concerns as a member of Council. Keeping people safe is the most fundamental obligation of any government (yes, even before potholes), and without public safety nothing else of meaning is achievable. Without a sense of public safety the Sundance Film Festival will be poorly attended, tourism will decline and businesses will relocate to municipalities that actually provide it. This is a core function of any government and a fundamental obligation to our residents.
We are long past the sterile “defund the police” argument of a few years ago. We have a community that recognizes the importance of a well-funded, state of the art police department, and I support providing it with the resources it requires to carry out its task to keep the people of Boulder safe.