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Former Boulder police oversight appointee claims improper removal in lawsuit [1]

['Quentin Young', 'More From Author', '- January']

Date: 2024-01 

A former member of a panel assigned to oversee police discipline and policies in the city of Boulder filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday that alleges her removal by the City Council violated her constitutional rights.

Lisa Sweeney-Miran was appointed in January 2023 to the Boulder Police Oversight Panel, which was formed following a 2019 incident in which police confronted a Black Naropa University student who was picking up trash outside his own residence.

Sweeney-Miran’s appointment was opposed by some community members who, based on several social media posts and her status as a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the city and its police chief over enforcement of the city’s camping ban, claimed she was biased against the police.

At the time of Sweeney-Miran’s appointment, the city engaged a special counsel to investigate the POP selection committee’s decision to advance Sweeney-Miran’s nomination. The special counsel’s April 2023 report found flaws in the selection process and recommended Sweeney-Miran’s removal from the POP, and the City Council voted 5-2 the following month to remove her from the panel.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for Colorado, according to a draft provided to Newsline by Sweeney-Miran’s attorney, Dan Williams, claims Sweeney-Miran’s removal violated her constitutional rights to free speech and due process. It says she was deprived of the opportunity to be heard by the council before her removal, and that it removed her because it disagreed with her viewpoints.

“The City’s retaliation against Ms. Sweeney-Miran will chill future free speech by those interested in police reform and who wish to participate in civilian police oversight in Boulder,” the lawsuit says.

She asks the court for a declaration that her removal violated her constitutional rights, and she seeks compensation for “mental pain, humiliation, fear” and other adverse outcomes from the episode.

“I am bringing this lawsuit because Boulder not only can be, but must be, a leader in police reform and accountability. Our city guaranteed that things would be different after the terrible events of 2019,” Sweeney-Miran said in a statement.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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[1] Url: https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/boulder-police-oversight-mproper-removal-lawsuit/

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