Marshal Larry Johns, Town of Nederland. The Nederland Police Department (NPD) strives to provide personal service to the community. In addition to enforcing the law, we proactively mediate and suppress crime and problems that cause quality of life issues for our Town’s residents and its visitors. The NPD hired Officer Fine-Loven who has been a great asset to the department and the Town as a whole. The department vision is to have five full time police officers, one of those primarily focused on traffic enforcement. NPD needs that many officers especially in the summer months. The pandemic slowed down interstate tourism but it appears to have boosted front range tourism into the mountain communities. Nederland is a beautiful and safe place for people to get away to for the day. 

NPD will continue to contract with BCSO for their night time coverage, holding to almost 24-hour police services.

Additional NPD highlights of 2020 include: 

Reaffirmed intergovernmental agreements with United States Forest Service (USFS) and the Colorado Law Enforcement Rangers; Created a solid relationship with new USFS law enforcement officer Andrew Young.

Continued dedication working with Pastor Hansen and Claudia Schauffler and NICHE to assist homeless in immediate need, while minimizing impacts to the community.

Participated in the Santa at the Bank event. 

Participated in Halloween with a public presence at the elementary school and in Old Town. 

Goals accomplished in 2020:

Re-organized and upgraded the Bio Building behind the community center. New insulated garage doors installed along with a camera and alarm system, and old printed case files moved into storage, which results in staging them to be scanned. Created a secure storage location for temporary items that can not be stored in doors. 

Purged evidence room, from cases where the statute of limitations has tolled, closed completed cases and cases that have no chance of prosecution. Administrative Officer Troy Hendricks led the charge in this project. 

Officer Hendricks completed a new evidence database that is far more efficient than the one created in 2002. 

Completed the necessary planning with the other Boulder County chiefs, to implement the Red Flag law when necessary. (No cases in Nederland to this date.)

Patrol 1 received a new engine, a new Tahoe will be purchased in 2021, Patrol 2 and the Ford Explorer will be sold. 

In July with County, State, and Federal Partners secured the crime scene, contained and mitigated further damage to the home and surrounding area, and partnered in an investigation that led to the arrest of a suspect related to the explosion at 283 Alpine.  

Colorado Rangers logged a total of 541 hours during 2020.

In  2021, the Police Department will develop and implement the following goals:

 Continue upgrades to the Town’s former Biomass building. 2021 plans consist of closing up the eves that are currently open to the air. Explore options for spray foam insulation. Work with Public works staff to excavate and shore up the hill to the north, to provide more working room and storage area, and gravel the driveway/parking area. 

Hold a Town Hall-style meeting at the community center to interact with the community when the public health orders allow. 

Continue working through the policy manual. 

Market the new Smart 911 program to citizens in the Nederland area. 

(Originally published in the December 31, 2020, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)