The Broomfield Police Department Listens

This winter and spring, the BPD reviewed all feedback received from the nine listening sessions, Impressions of the Broomfield Police survey and the Broomfield Business Feedback Form. You can read official recommendations, and the key themes/findings that supported these recommendations, below:

Recommendations

Through each of the engagement phases, police staff heard directly from the community. The following themes were generated from community feedback and are areas in which the BPD will focus:

1. Prioritize Public Safety and Enforcement: Increase focus on traffic enforcement, code violations and unhoused encampments. Increase presence in neighborhood and public events.
2. Expand Community Engagement Initiatives: Increase participation in programs like Coffee with a Cop and explore innovative engagement opportunities tailored to specific community needs.
3. Enhance Communication Strategies: Improve social media engagement, offer multilingual communication and provide consistent updates on policing strategies.
4. Strengthen Officer Training and Awareness: Implement expanded training on mental health, crisis intervention and neurodiversity to improve interactions with vulnerable populations. Prioritize professional police conduct emphasizing trust and respect.
5. Improve Victim Support and Follow-up Procedures: Ensure officers are equipped with resources for victims and streamline communication between dispatch, officers and victim advocates to ensure proper case handling.

Keep an eye out later this summer when the BPD will release proposed action steps to support each of these recommendations.

Key Themes and Findings

The themes below are direct compilations of community feedback received throughout the listening tour:

• Public Safety and Enforcement: Emphasis on traffic enforcement, crime prevention and professional conduct.
• Visibility and Engagement: Calls for increased police presence in the community and more proactive engagement efforts.
• Improved Communication: A need for greater transparency, better information sharing and expanded bilingual outreach.
• Support for Vulnerable Populations: Interest in enhanced mental health support, homelessness outreach and crisis response services.
• Trust and Respect: Residents expressed concerns about police interactions, including perceptions of bias and lack of follow-up on reported crimes.
• Continue Current BPD Strengths: community outreach, responsiveness, professionalism and visible presence in the community directly contribute to a positive relationship between the Broomfield Police and the community.

¡Eso es todo! La última sesión de escucha de 2024 se llevó a cabo el martes 10 de diciembre en el edificio de Salud y Servicios Humanos. La sesión se llevó a cabo completamente en español, con oficiales hispanohablantes presentes para facilitar conversaciones en grupos pequeños y otras actividades de escucha. Las temas generales que surgieron incluyeron:

• Un deseo de más información sobre lo que está sucediendo en la comunidad
• Necesidad de más materiales traducidos al español, así como oportunidades de participación en español
• Un deseo de más información sobre los recursos que BPD puede ofrecer a la comunidad
• Interés en una mayor presencia policial en las calles y en las escuelas

¡Gracias a todos los que participaron! ¡Estén atentos a un informe compilado de comentarios y recomendaciones en 2025!

That’s a wrap! The final listening session of 2024 took place on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at the Health and Human Services building. The session was conducted entirely in Spanish, with Spanish-speaking officers present to facilitate small group conversations and other listening activities. General themes that emerged included:

• A desire for more information about what’s going on in the community
• Need for more materials translated in Spanish, as well as engagement opportunities in Spanish
• A desire for more information about the resources BPD can offer the community
• Interest in more police presence on streets and in schools

Thank you to everyone who participated! Stay on the lookout for a compiled report of feedback and recommendations in 2025!

At the final community listening session, attendees shared their experiences and insight regarding police engagement in Broomfield. The session took place at the Broomfield Library the evening of Oct. 30. Throughout the evening, as was done in the previous community listening sessions, participants shared a wide range of opinions regarding police engagement and traffic enforcement. Additionally, officers answered participant questions about what the BPD is doing and why.

Throughout the remainder of 2024, the BPD will host additional focus groups to hear from more segments of the community, including a focus group in Spanish. If you’d like to participate, contact bpd@broomfield.org. Stay on the lookout for a compiled report of feedback and recommendations in 2025!

In September and October, the BPD hosted three focus group sessions with the following groups: male inmates at the Broomfield Detention Center, female inmates and Victim Advocates. Each of these groups has regular interaction with the Broomfield Police and shared in-depth, first hand experience.

General themes from the male and female inmate sessions included:

• Suggestions for improving programming and commissary at the Detention Center
• Fear of calling the police/911 for help (afraid to be mistreated or that it will negatively impact family or friends)
• Appreciation that Broomfield Police officers at the detention center treat inmates as human beings

Victim Advocates are dedicated community members who work with the BPD to provide support and crisis intervention to victims of crime and tragic events. General themes from the Victim Advocate focus group included:

• Emphasis on creating safe spaces for persons in trauma
• Ideas for increasing community awareness about resources and services available to victims of crime
• Desire for the BPD to have increased community engagement (visibility, relationship-building with the community, etc.)

Thank you to everyone who participated and shared their valuable insight!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the public community listening sessions! The BPD hosted community listening sessions at the Broomfield Community Center on June 12 and July 10. These sessions were open to the public and participants received a light dinner, door prizes and childcare. Participants engaged in two activities: a poster activity and small group discussions. In each activity, they answered question prompts and shared their honest experiences and ideas while Broomfield police officers listened and took notes. Some themes that arose during the sessions included:

• Desire for improved two-way communication with the community
• Community engagement and increased patrol presence in neighborhoods
• Traffic enforcement
• Questions about what the BPD does
• Generally high satisfaction with the BPD

In August and September, the BPD will meet with various focus groups to ensure that they’re hearing from a cross section of the community. Keep an eye out for additional community listening sessions in the fall and swing by National Night Out on Aug. 6 to learn more about safety and emergency services in Broomfield!

The first of many listening sessions kicked off this past Thursday with the teen focus group! 20 teens from the Broomfield area participated in various engagement exercises led by officers such as cardstorming and small group conversations. Some themes included concerns about school and traffic safety, uncertainty about what to do if approached by an officer, and a desire to see the BPD foster more trust and interactions with the community. Their honest feedback will be helpful as the BPD continues the summer listening tour and meets with various community groups. Thank you to everyone who participated!

If you’d like to participate in an upcoming session, you can register for the July 10 session which takes place 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Broomfield Community Center. The BPD is also reaching out to groups and organizations in Broomfield to host a more focused listening session for their members. If you are a part of a group interested in holding a listening session, contact Commander Kent Wichlacz at 303-464-5717 or kwichlacz@broomfield.org.

Thank you to everyone who took the Impressions of the Broomfield Police survey! In total, 266 community members shared their thoughts and experiences in this online format between Dec. 8, 2023 and March 15, 2024.

Information received from the survey will help the BPD prepare for community listening sessions in summer 2024. It will inform topics of community interest to discuss at the listening sessions and help the BPD identify segments of the community they’d have yet to hear from. Survey data, in addition to stories and experiences shared at the listening sessions, will help the BPD understand what they’re doing well and how they can best engage with the community. Stay tuned Listening Sessions will be happening this summer!

In May 2023, the BPD led two listening session workshops with City and County of Broomfield (CCOB) employees. During the listening sessions, the 35 attendees participated in two hands-on and discussion-based activities. They were asked to consider topics such as concerns they have when interacting with the Broomfield Police Department, important functions of the BPD and things that would be helpful to change at the BPD.

Themes the BPD heard from CCOB saff during these sessions included:

• A desire for increased engagement
• More education about what the police do and why
• Relationship building
• Increase positive interactions
• Continue to address social issues such as mental health, homelessness and drug use

The BPD will consider staff feedback along with community feedback as they seek to understand how to best engage with the community. Thank you to all CCOB employees who participated!