Aurora Consent Decree Spin Control Police Chief Firing Update

On April 19, the City of Aurora staged a town hall focused on the consent decree imposed on the Aurora Police Department by the Colorado Attorney General last year after determining that the APD has a history of racial bias — though that’s not how an Aurora release previewing the event put it. Instead, that alert led with a note about IntegrAssure, the Florida-based consultancy tasked by the AG’s office with helping Aurora resolve “issues identified in a ‘Patterns and Practices’ report on the city’s public safety agencies.”

This phrasing is only one example of Aurora’s recent spin control, and such efforts are understandable. Last November’s $15 million lawsuit settlement related to the death of Elijah McClain, after a brutal encounter with Aurora police officers in August 2019,…