Two of Aurora’s new councilmembers plan to hold listening sessions with community members to talk about establishing an independent civilian oversight committee for Aurora police.

Gianina Horton and Amy Wiles, who were both elected to the Aurora City Council in November, are hosting sessions on Tuesday and Jan. 29 at the Aurora Center for Active Adults, 30 W. Del Mar Circle in Aurora.

The sessions have different agendas, Horton wrote on social media about the upcoming meetings.

On Jan. 13, the session will focus on what independent civilian oversight of law enforcement means and historical efforts that have been taken in Aurora, Horton said.

On Jan. 29, they will talk more in depth about what that oversight committee might look like, her post said.

Both sessions are free and will include a “light dinner.” Attendees are asked to RSVP on Eventbrite.

Talk of creating an independent oversight group for the Aurora Police Department is not new. For more than a year, protesters have attended every Aurora City Council meeting to demand action from the council following the police shooting death of Kilyn Lewis, who was unarmed and wanted on an attempted murder warrant.

In the first meeting under the new City Council, multiple people during the public comment session asked for the creation of an independent oversight group.

Both Horton and Wiles included the creation of such a group in their campaign goals when they ran for the City Council.

APD is also still under a consent decree.

The decree, which the city entered into with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office in 2021 to implement sweeping changes to policing — notably in the use of force and how officers engage with residents — came after the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain in 2019 while being arrested by three officers.

Aurora agreed to make changes after an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office found patterns of bias and excessive force in policing. The investigation also found a pattern of using the sedative ketamine in violation of the law by the fire department, which has since stopped using the drug but has to comply with related mandates in the consent agreement if it ever resumes use.

Aurora police officials did not respond to a request for comment on this story as of its publishing.