The COB makes recommendations to the police and sheriff departments and addresses the concerns of the community in regards to policing and incarceration.
The Citizen Oversight Board (COB) practices civilian oversight in Denver. Civilian oversight is an ever-evolving field designed to provide communities with a voice in how law enforcement is conducted. By ordinance, the COB is assigned the following responsibilities:
1) To make policy recommendations to the Denver Police Department and the Denver Sheriff Department on topics including, but not lim
10/10/2025
We hope you will join us Monday for dinner and an opportunity to learn about police oversight in Denver and proposed changes to how officers are held accountable for certain misconduct.
➡️5pm at Westwood Community Center (1000 S Lowell Blvd)
Spanish language interpretation will be provided, and a livestream will be provided by El Semanario.
10/07/2025
The application deadline is November 2!
Citizen Oversight Board The Citizen Oversight Board is an essential part of Denver’s independent system of civilian oversight of law enforcement. Learn more about this opportunity.
09/05/2025
Join us this Saturday at Brother Jeff’s as we continue to oppose DPD’s proposed Education Based Development Policy. Come ask questions directly to Chief Thomas, the Office of the Independent Monitor and the Community Oversight Board.
📅 Saturday Sept. 6
⏰ 2pm-4pm
🗺️ Brother Jeff’s Cultural Center
RSVP - [email protected]
07/29/2025
Please consider applying to join us! The application deadline is August 24.
The Denver City Council is looking for applicants for an appointment to the Citizen Oversight Board. It is responsible for ensuring that the Office of the Independent Monitor effectively monitors the discipline process for the city’s uniformed law enforcement personnel. Check out the complete description of qualifications and duties, as well as learn how to apply: https://bit.ly/CitizenOversight.
FYI: This account will be inactive an not monitored until early February due to staff parental leave. To contact Board members before then, you can go through the OIM (email [email protected]) - or hop on the upcoming Board virtual Board meetings on 1/19 or 2/2.
The Board's schedule (with links) is available here:
https://denvergov.org/files/assets/public/v/1/citizen-oversight-board/documents/misc/2024-schedule.pdf
Recordings of these meetings will not be available on YouTube until early February.
Last Friday, the Board sent an open letter to city leaders. We've reviewed publicly available (most aren't public) settlement terms from public safety settlements in the past 15 years. We found that in too many cases, the City has missed opportunities for change. One such missed opportunity was a report that was contracted but never written examining how the City Attorney's Office handled the Jamal Hunter case ~10y ago. (spoiler: not great.) A similar required report examining the DSD was completed & led to significant reforms.
If you have ideas about changes to the settlement & settlement compliance processes, let us know! We're especially looking for changes that would help ensure that opportunities for systemic change are not missed and ways to earn trust with the community.
Read the Letter:
11/09/2023
Good afternoon folks!
In case you missed it last week, here's the recording of our extra-long meeting with Executive Director of Public Safety Armando Saldate.
11/03/23 Board Meeting with EDOS Armando Saldate The Board met with Executive Director of Public Safety Armando Saldate, who spoke on several topics, including Place Network Investigations, the Michael Mars...
10/25/2023
Last week's meeting with Denver 911 Director Andrew Dameron is now available on our YouTube Channel. He shares about when to call 911, how dispatching works, how STAR works with 911, and how they have overcome their staffing challenges.
10/20/23 Board Meeting with 911 Director Andrew Dameron Denver 911 Director Andrew Dameron provided the Board with an overview of the call-taking and dispatching process, and responded to a wide variety of questio...
Are you interested in joining the Citizen Oversight Board? City Council is currently accepting applications to fill a vacancy. Application deadline is coming up soon on September 17, so apply soon!
Details available here: https://denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Denver-City-Council/Get-involved-in-Your-Community/Boards-and-Commissions/Citizen-Oversight-Board
We made a short (1 min) video about the importance of independent oversight for law enforcement. Special thanks to Alexander E. Landau for sharing his story with us.