05/22/2026
This is a wildly interesting case to follow. What are your thoughts in the City silencing the voice of the police chief?
Resolution to Restrict Chief Chamberlain's Public Comments Passes City Council
During last Monday's night's Aurora City Council meeting, the proposal, "Emergency Resolution to Implement a Policy Regarding Aurora Police Department Communications" passed on a 6 to 4 vote.
As the mayor, according to our city charter, I am only allowed to vote to make or break a tie and with six votes, I was not able to influence the outcome, which I would have voted no.
City Attorney Pete Schulte brought up a concern that an APD Facebook post that concerned the arrest of a suspect that also editorialize about the suspects prior convictions, could prejudice the prosecution of the case.
I'm not a lawyer and I trust Pete Schute's assessment of the law. However, if the proposal just did that, I would be supportive of it, but it went beyond that to limit Chief Todd Chamberlain's ability to publicly share his judgement on policy matters could impact his department.
When I was a member of Congress (2009 - 2019), serving on the House Armed Services Committee, there was an understanding that senior officers, testifying before committee hearings, were obligated to give their best professional judgement whether or not those opinions were shared by their political leadership.
This enabled the members of Congress and the American people to be better informed about the national security challenges facing our country and how best to meet those challenges.
I believe there is a tension between Chief Todd Chamberlain's more traditional law enforcement views on how to reduce crime and the progressive members of council who support a more "holistic" approach to reducing crime.
This approach assumes that crime is largely a result of an unjust society and that the most effective way to reduce crime is not through "over policing" but by increasing the resources available for education and economic opportunities along with the funding of other programs that are believed to be able to effectively address the "social determinants" of crime.
I think we are better when all voices, to include APD Chief Todd Chamberlain's, are heard.
In the photo is APD Chief Todd Chamberlain.