Erin Black
The community voices series features statements from community members.
Culture of Suppression
A little history relevant to this case and the culture of suppressing information and people’s ability to question their police dept or their government in Loveland without retribution and retaliation.
2022-Stacey Lynne-Fort Collins Citizen and self-proclaimed investigative journalist filed a claim of harassment against the Loveland City Manager, Steve Adams.
- Adams was never put on leave and a third-party investigation was never conducted at the decision of the majority on Lov CC.
- During the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office Adams/Lynne investigation, members of Lov CC and staff were interviewed. Councilors Fogle, Overcash, and Olson stated that Ms. Lynne had a history of making accusations at CC meetings and that she is a constant harassment and obsessed with this. Some of their comments to the Investigator were, “…Lynne routinely comes down to council and makes accusations against our sheriff, the Chief of police the city attorney and the city manager….she has a fetish….is obsessed. Olson says, “can’t we do anything with this woman?” Overcash was asked in his LSCO interview if he knew of any of Ms. Lynne’s accusations had ever been substantiated and he said no-However-he and the public all knew that Ms. Lynne had won 2 previous cases vs. the City of Loveland-both regarding the LPD and its officers. (I wrote an email to CC regarding these comments and the Adams/Lynne case in general-this is an excerpt, “…Lastly, senior leadership of the City of Loveland and the Loveland Police department have a culture of allowing aggressive, harassing behaviors…. Harassment and assault on private citizens in Loveland seems to be supported, allowed, and goes without much recourse. It’s also been proven that making a complaint or accusation about a city employee is not handled properly and isn’t taken seriously. In fact, complainants and victims are vilified, and their character and motives are questioned and attacked publicly by certain City Council members and the City Attorney. Enough is enough. We need to get back to the business of the City. Protecting residents from city employees should be the first priority of this Council.”
11/08/22-D.A.’s letter to Loveland City Attorney Moses Garcia, “…after a complete investigation and thorough review, it was clear the statutory elements of Harassment Pursuant to CRS 18-9-11 were met.”
11-09-22-Moses’ email to Loveland City Council –“Adams entered into a diversion agreement to satisfy concerns, and should move our attention to the business of the City of Loveland.”
It is my firm conclusion that all of this is about the culture of suppression at the LPD and within the City. Suppressing anyone or any evidence that puts the Loveland Police Department and/or the City of Loveland at risk of a lawsuit gets buried. At all costs. Suppress the accusers by intimidation tactics and by de-legitimizing them through character attacks and defamation, spreading lies and dangerous rhetoric that pit law enforcement and their blind allies against a civilian citizen.
September 2021/22- I began this journey to help my community. I wanted to help foster the public regain its trust back for our police dept. and with our other city leadership. I wanted to advocate for continued justice and acknowledgment for those victims in the Karen Garner case, including Mr. Menendez (This young man tried to intervene during Karen’s brutal arrest-the supervising Sgt.-Metzler, threatened and intimidated him with arrest if he didn’t mind his own business). I was seeking transparency and accountability. I had high hopes that progress was being made, that perhaps the new leadership would be the change needed to change the culture at the LPD.
November 2023-I wanted to serve in a larger capacity for Loveland and was elected to Council and committed to continuing the work of regaining trust with the LPD and the public AND with an additional commitment to working on the lack of trust between the public and the CC and City leadership. I truly believed that Chief Doran and the LPD in general had an amazing working relationship with me. I sang his praises to many and publicly. I am deeply disappointed in him as a police chief and as a person I thought I could trust.
JUNE 2024– IA investigation report on a former LPD Detective – This is being suppressed because it opens the door to litigation for LPD and for the city. We have cases that were tainted and victims that have been revictimized due to incompetent and negligent conduct of a Detective who then was demoted to patrol duty with no recourse for the victim in the case. This needs to be made public or at the very least we need to know if the LPD informed all of the victims in the cases and the DA’s office for attention.
The new Chief of Police and the old guard of politicians and certain city staff are utilizing the same old tactics as me as the target now. There is no new culture. I am now not only fighting for the public’s right to transparency and accountability from their police department and their city government, but I am fighting for my own right to transparency and accountability WITHOUT retribution/retaliation. I have also seen who in the community has aligned with this targeting effort. It includes people: Current and former political figures in opposition of me, CEO Chamber of Commerce (self-promoted Christian), Fraternal Order of Police Loveland, folks that identify as conservative, Republican, Trump supporting, many self-promoted, so-called Christian business owners, coaches, groups, anti-gay marriage/PRIDE activists, anti-abortion activists, Project 2025 supporters, and groups that believe our government and legislation should be ruled by Biblical Judeo-Christian terms. These are the folks that are on the Chief’s side and they show it publicly.
This has devastated me and my family. I have been targeted by city councilors, city staff, high profile members of the community, both online and in Chambers due to this targeted effort to suppress me. I do not feel safe with Chief Doran, nor do I trust him to be honest and fair. I also do not feel safe knowing that many officers and allies believe falsehoods about me spread by the Chief’s words and actions. Chief Doran told another Councilor that he could no longer work with me and that he thought I was out for him/his job. That was a false assumption and accusation at the time. Now, I do believe that it is in the best interest of the City and for my safety and the public’s safety that Mr. Doran resign as chief of police. He has lost his credibility.
Contractual trust broken, police legitimacy- The Loveland community has been traumatized in the past and continues by LPD actions and deserve reparations and patience as it heals and begins to regain trust. Officer misconduct is a public safety matter and is at the root of the lack of trust by the public.
** Recommendation for trauma response training for all officers and support staff.
Trauma informed responses to the community must be the norm by officers. A “Procedural Justice” philosophy is the answer. We must remain transparent, including with the LPD budget process. We should seek to be purposeful, empathetic, pragmatic and creative to overcome bad tendencies and build better habits by city government and its leadership. Denver Police Oversight Board, “Improving oversight will meaningfully contribute to both better operational outcomes and greater degree of community trust. A focus on improving policy and process involving public safety settlements will reduce community harm and the risk of additional claims and settlements.” Loveland has experienced great trauma by the LPD and its City. It’s retraumatized every time there’s another story in the newspaper reminding us of a former LPD officer’s court date in the matter of sexual assault on a minor. LPD must recognize that part of the community does not trust them and in fact, fear them. This must be addressed head on through Trauma-Informed, Procedural Justice, and Community Policing practices’ training. This is critical to our public safety moving forward.
REMINDER= JH recommendations/CTC:
- Monitoring and Oversight be established – A “civilian oversight commission. This is the “Accountability” piece of the puzzle. “Complaint ‘Rate’ isn’t a reliable measure of police performance. Let’s measure how many time de-escalation was used and effective.”
- Found “no evidence of the LPD following best practice and/or current policy in a number of areas. LPD claimed to have a philosophy stating that it takes a “community-based” approach to policing, but it had actually revolved around “data-driven policing”.
- Re: LPD complaints/use of force claims-Public data should include:
- Rank of officer, type of complaint/force used, time of day, and results that included description of discipline action – ADD to LPD policies
Internal Affairs investigations:
How many PIP’s/IA’s determined to be resolved through “training”?
Additional Information relatable
PCAB Meetings :
6-7-2021 minutes: “CC est. CTC to not only restore trust within our community, staff, and City Council regarding communications” – Councilor Overcash-“There is mistrust between the City Council members and citizens.” PCAB member Frisch- “We need to understand background information when supporting issues concerning the police dept that go before City Council. We listen to presentations.”
9-13-2021 minutes: discussion regarding Blue Team process in the Karen Garner case-Lt. Pyle clarified that, “..several of the staff members listed on the carbon copy did not review or approve any part of the Blue Team report regarding arrest of Karen Garner.”
- minutes:
- 1.PCAB member asked about getting a PSA out to students and parents at the schools about the proliferation of sex trafficking online. She asked, “what can we do?” I bring this up because it’s relevant to my motion last week. I’m not even sure if PCAB was aware of the Trafficking presentation given at CC. AND I do believe that because of politics and this beef the Chief has with me, that last week’s CC meeting was impacted, the vote was impacted, and the seriousness of the request of impacted. This stunt is continuing to have grave consequences.
- Public Commenter asked: Listening session with the LPD was requested for the Spanish speaking population.
- I requested that PCAB be on Zoom, with mics, and recorded for transparency.
- Bob Coleman, Chief of Staff and the PIO presented his written “Strategic Communications Plan”-notable here: 4.2, 4.3, and 4.7 of the plan is relevant to this case.
- 4.2-“…our goal is to communicate critical information to stakeholders in a timely manner and to continue to build trust in our agency and leadership by showcasing principles in action.
- 4.3- “…The press will play an important role in dissemination critical information to our community when it matters most. Maintaing a professional relationship with local and regional news outlets is necessary to ensure that we can share accurate and timely information with those we serve.”
- 4.7- “Community Pillars-The City of Loveland is a thriving and growing community that attracts various and diverse segments of the community based on individual religious and cultural beliefs, customs and lifestyle choices. Based on the number of these divers segments within our community, not all can identify in overall strategic plan as this. However, these segments can be generally grouped into different pillars that require interaction and engagement by the Loveland Police Department. This will increase the PCAB board to have interactions with specific groups.”
*Last point and relevant to the “out of scope effort by investigator to claim I direct and challenge the Chief and am in violation of our Charter”, I had a long-term relationship with many in the LPD long before Chief Doran arrived. I had full access to them through email, phone, text, and/or in person meetings and worked with them in working groups at the Police Institute for over a year. I continued this open communication even after I was elected with no issues. Chief and I began a great relationship, and he said things like, “The truth fears no questions.” He said that he welcomed oversight. I was only suppressed and told that it was a violation asking questions when he didn’t like the questions. He has shown zero respect for me, my duties, or the fact that he’s put this city at increased risk for liability now.
Operation **Reclaim** Loveland 
What do you think?