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Ordinance to establish a community trust commission passes first reading by Loveland City Council

The vote follows outrage over the arrest of a 73-year-old woman with dementia in June 2020.
Ordinance to establish a community trust commission passes first reading by Loveland City Council
Posted at 12:04 AM, May 19, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-19 02:04:16-04

LOVELAND, Colo. — On Tuesday night, the Loveland City Council voted 5-3 to move forward an ordinance establishing a community trust commission.

The vote for the commission comes on the heels of community outrage over the arrest of 73-year-old Karen Garner in June 2020.

Six hours after the meeting first began, councilors took a vote on the ordinance; because there wasn't a super majority on the vote, a second reading is required and will take place on June 1.

First proposed by Councilman Don Overcash, the 16-person commission will make policy recommendations for the policy department and other city operations.

Before the commission's dissolution set for September 2022, the body will also be tasked with presenting a final report to City Council.

Additional details of the commission's membership and tasks can be found here.

Other city councilors and the mayor have proposed additional ideas for police oversight that will be considered by council at a later time.

Councilmember Andrea Samson is conducting research on her ideas for civilian review board. Meanwhile, Mayor Jacki Marsh received council support on Tuesday night to begin research on her ideas.

"Mine is more of a lean and mean, small committee of three to five people that we actually pay based on the volume of work they do," Marsh said. "They can participate in a police investigation, they can review the findings of a police investigation, they can subpoena documents and they can review Blue Team [use of force] reports. I would want this board to report to City Council through our city attorney. I envision them having investigative experience: civilian attorneys, judges, maybe claims adjusters — people that have a background in conducting investigations."