Aurora leaders vote to suspend mutual aid agreement with Denver

Aurora City Council voted 5-4 to suspend its long-standing mutual aid agreement with Denver. The agreement states that Aurora and Denver may call upon each other for additional law enforcement resources when needed.

Earlier this month, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman proposed suspending the agreement until Denver indemnifies Aurora and APD officers who came to the city's aid during protests in 2020.

"Until they agree to indemnify our officers for what occurred in 2020 after the George Floyd protest and going forward, it's just not feasible for us to send officers into Denver under a mutual aid agreement," said Coffman.

Concerns were raised during Monday's council meeting about how ending the agreement would impact relationships between the two police departments.

"My concern is that, unofficially, officers in Denver will make our officers' lives much more challenging and make it that much harder to solve crimes," said Curtis Gardner, mayor pro tem at large.

In a statement to CBS Colorado, Aurora Police Chief Art Acevedo writes:

"We have a longstanding, close working relationship with the Denver Police Department and diligently work with their leadership team and officers to keep our communities safe every day. That relationship will not change. In the rare instances of large-scale events that lead to formal requests for large-scale mutual aid responses from Aurora officers, we will continue to assess each of them on an individual, case-by-case basis."

Coffman also wants a signed statement by Mayor Mike Johnston that spells out Denver's obligation to always indemnify APD officers when call on for assistance.

Some council members feel hesitant to lend Denver officers again.

"We would be putting our officers in a very precarious situation of having to not be indemnified if we get called and we don't know if they will or not. So with some hesitancy, I think I will support this," said Francoise Bergan, Ward VI.

Denver filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, arguing the mutual aid statute requires Denver to only indemnify officers for standard negligence claims only, not constitutional claims.

Aurora alleges that it agreed to provide aid to Denver "with the understanding that, consistent with the parties' longstanding practice, Denver would indemnify Aurora or otherwise assume responsibility for any claims arising of the provision of this aid."

Denver says Aurora's understanding was "one-sided, as there is no allegation that Denver had the same understanding...Aurora does not allege any previous occasion on which Aurora provided aid to Denver let alone that Denver assumed all risk."

Coffman hopes suspending the agreement will put pressure on Denver to assume responsibility and back those officers called on for support.

Council members who voted no say there's got to be a better way.

"I agree that our officers need to be indemnified. I don't think there's anybody here that disagrees with that. But leadership and collaboration with our neighbors shouldn't be about leverage," said Allison Coombs, Ward V.