AURORA, Colo. ( KDVR ) — Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said he has two goals in his new role as the city’s top cop: Reducing crime and increasing trust between the community and the police department.
Chamberlain was sworn in on Sept. 9 and is now Aurora’s first permanent police chief in two years. He sat down with FOX31 for an in-depth interview on Tuesday.
“Without question, it has been a lot and it’s been very intense, but it’s also the reason that I’m here,” Chamberlain said.
New chief discusses troubled apartments
Chamberlain joined the department around the same time Aurora became part of the national narrative on immigration after a video went viral showing men with guns forcing their way into an apartment. He said he first saw the video on Instagram.
From $800 to $200: TABOR checks expected to shrink over next few years “When I saw it, it didn’t deter me in any way. It actually enthused me because it said, ‘Hey this is a department and this is a city that truly needs help’ and I’ve been in law enforcement for 35 years,” he said. “For me, it was the opportunity to go someplace that is not perfect. The opportunity to go someplace that is not a small retirement community. I was never looking for that. I’m looking for a challenge.”
In his first few days on the job, Chamberlain visited the apartment buildings at the center of the controversy.
“For me, that was really important to go out and walk through those complexes because that’s what I saw, people that were basically sequestered in these small, dilapidated apartments. They had entire families there. They had no, that I could see, this is my opinion, they had no infrastructure to support them. I saw no care for them. I saw no trajectory of where were they going to go in the future,” Chamberlain said.
He said the problems with uninhabitable buildings, crime and possible gang activity are because of failures by the property owners and the federal government.
CBZ Management, which owns the three troubled complexes, has previously said a Venezuelan gang took over the buildings.
“I’m going to be very blunt; I think that’s a false narrative. There was a lot of issues with the property management company on this. There was a lot of outreach at a city level, not at a police level but at a city level through the city manager’s office and the mayor’s office to try to get some systems in place where these people would actually become property managers,” Chamberlain said.
New York Times names 3 Colorado restaurants among best in country He said there are both positives and negatives to having Aurora as part of the national political narrative ahead of the 2024 election.
“When you look at the social media, when you look at all the moral panic that’s been going on throughout the nation in relation to this, I think the opportunity is to kind of bring it down and bring clarity and that’s why I’m talking to you and that’s why I will never back away from press. I’ll never back away from any phone calls about this and I’ll always give my honest opinion of what I feel because I think the less you say about something the more there’s opportunity just to go down a rabbit hole and then it’s too late to pull it back,” he said.
Aurora Police Department under consent decree
Chamberlain is also taking the reins while the Aurora Police Department is under a consent decree. It mandates policy changes involving racial bias and the use of force, among other things, following the death of Elijah McClain.
“In my last occupation, I was actually doing kind of a review of Aurora myself looking at the consent decree,” Chamberlain said.
He said he wants to use the mandates to achieve long-lasting systemic change in the department.
“I’m glad we’re in it. We can get through this without question. In two and a half years we’ll most likely be out of it. But that’s not really my goal is to do the check the box because some monitor said hey these are the things that you’ve got to fix so fix them,” Chamberlain said.
He told FOX31 he believes the most difficult part of the consent decree will be gaining back the trust of the community in Aurora. He plans to begin to mend the relationship by increasing transparency.
US News best colleges in 2025: 2 Colorado universities rank among top 100 “It’s 100% wide open,” Chamberlain said. “There isn’t anything that goes on in this agency or this organization budget-wise, staffing-wise, use of force information, calls for service information, there is nothing that should not be transparent to the community.”
Chief wants to address youth violence in Aurora
Addressing youth violence is also near the top of his to-do list as chief. According to Chamberlain, department staff have already begun compiling data and statistics to determine why violent crime among children and young adults is happening.
“I think that’s what a lot of problems are with youth, they want to connect with somebody. They want to feel connected to some place and they’ll make the wrong decisions. So, I think it’s really law enforcement’s responsibility to help them make a better decision,” Chamberlain said.
He said the positive change will take time, patience and understanding from all sides.
“Failure is a part of life, and I can guarantee you there’s gonna be some things probably two or three years down the road I’ll say I wish I had done this, or I wish I hadn’t have changed that, but I think failure is part of what you have to experience to get better,” Chamberlain said.
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