COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Tuesday marked the end of the police advisory group Colorado Springs set up in 2020. There was little indication that the city would follow some public demands to create a stronger oversight group in its place.
The Colorado Springs City Council voted unanimously to dissolve the Law Enforcement Transparency and Advisory Commission on Tuesday morning.
The commission members had recommended earlier this year that their own group should be dissolved. Current and former members both said that LETAC no longer played a major role and had limited ability to impose changes on the Colorado Springs Police Department.
Public demands for greater police oversight in Colorado Springs were organized after De’von Bailey was shot by police officers in late 2019. The city eventually paid a $2.9 million settlement to Bailey’s family over his death.
That campaign coalesced into the creation of the advisory commission in summer 2020, after the death of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests for police accountability. The committee made recommendations for police training and sought to serve as a place for public comment on police incidents.
A group of protestors from the left-wing Colorado Springs Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression attended the council meeting to demand the city enact a stronger civilian oversight board. It proposes elected residents having a say in police discipline and investigations into officer-involved shootings.
“They are denied even a seat at the table for discussions around policies that directly impact them and their community. Consequently, the power to determine how they are policed is given to a few select people outside of these targeted communities,” alliance organizer Sparrow McKinney said.
No councilmembers spoke about the commission during the meeting before the vote. City Council President Lynette Crow-Iverson said after the meeting that a replacement oversight body would need to be set up by the mayor’s office to be substantially different than LETAC.
The group’s recent complaints about police use of force centered on Michael Foster, who was hospitalized after being shot multiple times in a confrontation with police officers in February.
According to the initial police footage and briefings, officers attempted to stop Foster for “acting suspiciously” and running away. Foster and one officer both fired shots at each other from close range. Police say a second officer fired five more shots at Foster after he attempted to grab his service weapon.
Police said in February that Foster would be charged with attempted murder of a peace officer and first-degree assault on a peace officer.
His mother, Lorraine Foster, told the City Council that she worried her son had been targeted by one of the officers involved.
“I’m here today to fight for accountability, accessibility and everything else that we deserve as citizens of Colorado Springs,” Foster said. “My job as a human, as a mother, as a parent, as a citizen is to stand up for everybody who can’t stand up for themselves.”
Foster was one of three shootings involving Colorado Springs police officers so far this year, according to Gazette data.
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