Aurora’s search for a leader of its new Office of Public Safety Accountability is entering a public-feedback stage. Residents are invited to meet the three finalists and offer input before City Manager Jason Batchelor makes the appointment.
The finalists are John Hummel, Shenandoah Titus and Eric Williams, according to Sentinel Colorado. The city has scheduled a public meet-and-greet for 6:15 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, in the large community room at Aurora Central Library. Recorded interviews are expected to be available at EngageAurora.org/AccountabilityManager on Monday before the gathering. Residents can submit questions online for consideration in the candidates’ interview process by noon Sunday, Nov. 15.
Who's In the Running
Titus founded and serves as chief counsel of Police Oversight USA, which her biography describes as a national consulting office on public safety oversight and accountability. She has been human rights director for Amherst and Somerville in Massachusetts and director of police and community partnerships for the Boston transit police. Her biography cites more than two decades of experience in investigations and oversight leadership at municipal, state and federal levels.
Williams is deputy vice president of investigations for the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a Denver-based nonprofit working to reduce sexual abuse of youth athletes in Olympic sports. He previously served as deputy director of Denver’s Department of Public Safety and worked for the FBI, where his biography says he conducted civil rights and public corruption investigations.
Hummel is an attorney with Franklin D. Azar & Associates in Denver. He has practiced law in Colorado since 2023 and previously served as elected district attorney for Deschutes County in Bend, Oregon, according to the Sentinel Colorado report. His biography says he handled officer-involved use-of-force investigations and criminal allegations against peace officers as district attorney, and began his career representing migrant farm workers from Mexico and unemployed loggers in rural Oregon. The finalists’ full biographies are available online, and they will have another round of interviews with city staff and elected officials.
A New Layer of Oversight
The accountability manager position has a salary range of $130,000 to $160,000. Aurora City Manager Jason Batchelor will select and appoint the person hired, according to Sentinel Colorado. The office will operate independently, reporting administratively to the city manager and functionally to the public safety committee, CPR News reported. The City Council unanimously approved the office in June and budgeted two full-time positions for 2026, according to CPR News.
The manager is expected to review complaint investigations, critical incidents, public safety policies and systemic trends involving sworn personnel across the police, fire, detention and 911 departments. The office will also take over oversight from IntegrAssure, Aurora’s contracted consent-decree monitor, according to Sentinel Colorado.
The Consent Decree Backdrop
Aurora's consent decree traces back to a state investigation of the city's public safety departments following the 2019 death of Elijah McClain. The most recent monitoring report found the city in substantial compliance with a majority of its remaining mandates and said Aurora is likely to complete its consent-decree mandates on time in spring 2027, as noted by The Denver Gazette. Of the 63 mandates still in effect, 79% were described as substantially compliant, with the rest called “on the right track.”
Exactly when the oversight period ends remains unsettled in public reporting. CBS Colorado has reported the consent decree is expected to expire in February 2027, while the Denver Gazette reported the earliest possible date for full completion is May 1, 2027, citing the same breakdown of 50 mandates in substantial compliance and 13 partially compliant and on track. A monitoring report also recommended integrating the new Office of Public Safety Accountability with existing accountability work already underway at the police department's Office of Constitutional Policing and the city auditor's office.
The state investigation behind the oversight effort
According to the Office of the Independent Consent Decree Monitor, a 2021 state investigation found that Aurora Police had a pattern and practice of racially biased policing, excessive force and failing to record legally required information. That finding provides context for the new office, but does not itself give a count of complaints or explain how complaints were resolved.
