CU Boulder officer placed on leave over Reddit account

Mitchell Byars, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.
·2 min read

Apr. 12—A University of Colorado Boulder police officer has been placed on administrative leave and is under internal review for his alleged Reddit posts.

The Twitter account SAFE: Safe Access For Everyone posted a thread Monday linking CU Boulder police Officer Drew Matthews to a Reddit account called /u/BocoRam18 based on similar posts on Matthews' personal Facebook page.

According to the account, Matthews is "a regular on the /r/Boulder and /r/CUBoulder boards, as well as /r/ProtectAndServe, a board for law enforcement where he has verified himself with the board admins as a campus police officer."

According to screen grabs posted in the thread, SAFE alleges that Matthews' account was "full of anti-homeless and anti-Black comments, including a call to attack homeless people with high pressure fire hoses."

The University of Colorado Boulder said Matthews was placed on paid administrative leave Monday and issued a statement saying, "the posts highlighted are offensive and reprehensible."

"These allegations have been referred to the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance and to CUPD's professional standards unit for investigation," the statement read. "Our community should know that CU Boulder and CUPD take the allegations seriously."

CU Boulder police Chief Doreen Jokerst also released a statement.

"We would like to thank members of our community for bringing this to our attention," Jokerst stated. "CUPD takes allegations of this nature very seriously. We are taking immediate action to conduct an internal investigation. The officer in question is being placed on paid administrative leave."

CU Boulder officials said Matthews has been with the department since 2015.

The CU Boulder Police Department had also responded to the thread late Monday saying officials were "aware of allegations of racism, antisemitism, and unprofessional conduct by a CUPD officer."

In one of the posts on Matthews' alleged account, he reportedly referenced a case in which a Boulder police officer resigned after pulling a gun on an unarmed Black man as "all media and pretend outrage."

According to the screen grabs, Matthews also compared vaccination requirements to the Holocaust.

Anyone who would like to share information or discuss addressing such conduct can contact the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance at 303-492-2127 or cureport@colorado.edu or the CU Police Department internal affairs section at 303-492-6666. People may also file a report on the CUPD website at colorado.edu/police/content/complaints-commendations-form.