The Aurora City Council voted to alter social media policies for the Aurora Police Department on Monday night to bar department officials from posting mug shots and suspect names until a suspect is convicted or pleads guilty.

The resolution, which passed with four “no” votes, directs the city manager to develop a social media policy that limits what the police department can and cannot post on social media.

Exceptions will be made for certain emergency situations to be outlined in the policy, City Attorney Pete Schulte said Monday.

Such situations could include police looking for a wanted person, an arrest in which police are looking for further victims, or a situation in which there is an imminent threat to the public.

“(APD) can still showcase what they’re doing, except it doesn’t have that impact on a person’s life because they could be acquitted later,” Schulte said.

Schulte said he supported the resolution because the editorialization of some past police department posts have caused legal challenges.

He pointed to a specific post that called a suspect’s criminal history “extensive … the largest I’ve ever seen.”

“That is the issue we’re talking about here,” Schulte said. “None of the conversations I’ve had with the city manager or councilmembers has been about stopping APD from doing their good work or putting out factual information, we just don’t need the added editorializing.”

Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain disagrees with the resolution, he said in a statement Monday, adding that he will comply.

“My department has been nothing but professional and to suggest otherwise by silencing us all should gravely concern Aurora residents,” Chamberlain wrote in the statement. “The community deserves timely facts and direct communication from the professionals closest to these incidents and operational realities.”

Aurora Police Association President David Exstrom wrote a letter to the council Monday sharing “concerns” about the resolution.

“We rely on the local media to amplify our messaging to help keep our community safe and informed,” Exstrom wrote in the letter. “If we are restricted by what we can share with our community, our local media will similarly be left in the dark.”

City Manager Jason Batchelor clarified that mug shots and suspect names are still subject to the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act and would therefore be given to members of the media or others who make requests.

Councilmember Francoise Bergan said the resolution “stifles the speech of our police chief.”

“I think getting information out to residents right away is transparency and often is in the interest of safety,” she said. “I believe our chief and our commanders are individually qualified to speak about crime.”

Mayor Pro Tem Alison Coombs said APD posts have a “tone of innuendo, of opinion, of personal bias … that undermines public trust and absolutely torches any credibility that we may have had over the incredible amount of work that members of our department and city staff have put into the consent decree.”

“This is not preventing transparency, it’s not preventing factual information,” Coombs said.