Safer Leaks

10.23.2020: Response to Safer Boulder’s response

If you follow Boulder politics closely, you may recall a Change.org petition that surfaced a few months ago, authored by a group calling themselves “Safer Boulder.” This petition asks city leaders to fully enforce the urban camping ban, “step up” the use of the Boulder police department’s Homeless Outreach Team and increase police patrols around the city, particularly on bike paths and in pedestrian areas.

Just weeks after Safer Boulder’s petition was published, Boulder City Council included a slide featuring the group’s demands in their staff presentation. This gave Safer’s recommendations equal consideration to those of the Housing Advisory Board and the Human Rights Commission, an unexpected turn of events for such an obscure community group.

According to Housing and Human Services director Kurt Firnhaber, a certain member of city council requested that Safer be platformed at the meeting, leading to their inclusion in staff’s slideshow. Who are the powerful decision makers amplifying their pro-law enforcement vision, even as widespread reports of police brutality continue to make headlines across the country in the wake of George Floyd’s murder? Who is behind Safer Boulder, and what is their driving ideology?

Glancing at their Facebook page, Safer comes across as a concerned group of citizens, worried about the safety of their neighbors and the housing crisis in their town. They insist that they are not anti-homeless, that they want to see houseless people supported and provided shelter. They deny that their petition discriminates against people experiencing homelessness, and they express concern for campers living outside during Boulder’s freezing winters.

Unfortunately, the reality is much uglier. Safer’s carefully crafted public statements grossly misrepresent their true motives. We have obtained leaks from the group’s private Slack communications that disprove their claims of tolerance and compassion, revealing a disturbing degree of hatred toward the struggling people who live on Boulder’s streets. This article will describe in detail Safer Boulder’s bigoted views on homelessness and their tendency to target, dehumanize and humiliate unhoused people and their advocates.

Content Warning: These messages contain hateful, transphobic, ableist, racist and dehumanizing rhetoric that some may find triggering.

Dehumanization and Discrimination

“We are at the mercy of these lunatics…”

Safer claims not to discriminate against others based on housing status, so you can imagine our shock when we discovered that their workspace on the Slack app is dedicated almost entirely to ridiculing and attacking the homeless. Safer Boulder members all agree that the vast majority of homeless people in the city are “transients,” just passing through to take advantage of Boulder’s supposedly ample resources. They assume that all unhoused people they encounter are mentally ill, criminals and drug addicts. Below are examples of the derogatory, dehumanizing language they use to describe homeless individuals.

Below, Craig Books asserts that people experiencing homelessness should be thrown in jail for no reason. He calls them “lunatics” and frames the growing homeless presence in the city as a hostile takeover.

The screenshots below illustrate how Safer members dismiss all houseless people as “transients” in order to deny them of material assistance. Contrary to their public statements, Safer is more interested in removing the homeless from Boulder than sheltering and housing them.

If the comments above weren’t bad enough, this post by Shirley Frewin exemplifies the hatred Safer Boulder allows to fester in their Slack team. Comments like these are never pushed back against by other members.

Unsurprisingly, Safer members also speak disparagingly about people suffering from drug addictions. As with poverty, they view drug addiction as a personal moral failure instead of the serious illness that it is. Their ignorance on this topic is truly disturbing, particularly Peggy’s statement below. Suffering from an addiction? Why don’t you just stop? BOOM. Sobriety. A foolproof solution, if you survive.

The derogatory phrase “meth heads” is used abundantly by Safer members. Here’s a small sampling of posts (click to enlarge):

Safer hates seeing homeless encampments around town, but they’re equally opposed to the idea of a safe, sanctioned camp where houseless individuals can sleep without violating the city’s urban camping ban. Here are Todd Root, Jillian Lloyd and Craig Books mocking the idea of a sanctioned campground in Boulder, complete with more ableist jokes and classist stereotypes.

As you can see from Craig’s comment above, Safer members like to pretend that being homeless in Boulder is easy. They believe that living on the street is a choice, that panhandling is a fast way to make tons of money, and that sitting outdoors all day without reliable access to restrooms, drinking water or food is a ton of fun. More examples are shown below.

The following comment from Todd Root’s Reddit account pushes the same false narrative that unhoused people are given special treatment in Boulder.

It isn’t hard to see that Safer’s claims of fairness and compassion are lies designed to maintain respectability in the eye’s of the public. Not only is Safer Boulder cruel, but they are ignorant and misinformed. Being homeless in Boulder is miserable, and people like Todd, Peggy, Jillian, Craig and the rest are the reason why. On the streets, food is scarce. The weather is unpredictable, and shelter services are inadequate. People are often kicked awake by police officers for violating the urban camping ban. Public bathrooms are sometimes locked shut and drinking water is unavailable.

Safer needs to believe these lies in order to justify the cruel, inhumane policies for which they advocate. The section below will demonstrate exactly why these false beliefs, and the hostile mentality they breed, are so dangerous.

Harassment and Violent Threats

“This camp is a cancer. It won’t go away by itself.”

Safer Boulder’s hatred does not stop at disparaging private comments. The group also engages in harassment and calls to violence. One member, Shirley Frewin, has bragged multiple times about shouting insults and obscenities at homeless people she has encountered, for no clear reason other than their socioeconomic status, or in one case, the fact that the individual was exhibiting signs of mental and emotional distress.

Here she is boasting about shouting aggressively at homeless individuals:

Occasionally, these posts even veer into the realm of violent threats. Here, Craig Books “ironically” suggests that Safer should pressure the city to use rubber bullets to disperse homeless encampments. 



Here are Craig and other Safer members brainstorming cruel and unusual ways to disperse an encampment in downtown Boulder.

Even more disturbing is this message by Shirley Frewin, which explains her plans to rig her truck to hop curbs, allowing her to “go after meth heads in a lot more places.” As you can see from the screenshot below, no one in the group objects to Shirley’s thinly-veiled threats.

Reading Safer’s private conversations, it becomes evident that they believe the people living on the city’s streets have no right to be there. Safer’s mission is the restoration of “law and order,” and they plan to achieve this goal by working with the police and policymakers to create an abusive and hostile environment for poor people.

Tracking Encampments

“Groups of human trash.”

The Safer Boulder Slack group includes a channel called “#photos,” in which they share pictures to document the activity of the homeless around town. Some of these pictures show tents, litter, and other objects. Others depict houseless people, many of them sleeping. It is obvious that these photos are taken and shared without consent with the intent to mock and humiliate their subjects.

Below, Craig Books calls the homeless people he photographs “human trash.”

This post by Leslie Chandler depicts a man on a street corner with his pants down, obviously in a state of crisis. The other members seem to think it is very funny.

Here, Todd Root claims that documenting encampments is good for his mental health. Jillian Lloyd replies that it’s also good for “shock value.”

Imagine being so exhausted and worn down that you pass out on a metal bench on a busy sidewalk. Now imagine NIMBYs photographing you in that state. That’s what Leslie Chandler does for fun, seen below.

Here’s Craig Books admitting to reporting a new encampment to the police. Those campers had just moved all their belongings to that spot, and it’s very likely that the police forced them out again soon after.

Below is another post referring to a human being as “trash,” this time by Todd Root.

Finally, here’s an exchange between Todd Root and Craig Books about a woman sleeping on a street corner. Todd says the situation looks concerning enough to warrant a welfare check, but that he “wouldn’t bother.” Craig says he had to restrain himself from honking his horn loudly to wake her up.

Boulder on Blast

“Boulder on blast” is a public Facebook page run by Zack Finger, owner of Last Chair Customs. The page is also dedicated to documenting encampments, litter and graffiti. Images of homeless people appear there frequently.

Here are some examples of the invasive and disrespectful content posted on Boulder on blast. This first photograph was shared by a fan of the page.

Zack Finger is not known to have any direct affiliation with Safer Boulder, but Safer members love his work and are responsible for most of the page’s engagements. In August, he attempted to share Safer’s Change.org petition, although the link preview did not work. (Typing in the following URL will bring you to the petition, but we don’t recommend signing it.)

Returning to the Safer Slack for a moment, here is Shari Roth admiring Boulder on Blast’s images from afar.

As usual, Shirley Frewin’s comments are the most alarming and bigoted. In the post below, she gives an extensive description of a “cruise” she took downtown, apparently to spy on the homeless and take note of any encampments.

Here is Shirley once more, praising Boulder on Blast’s way with words as he mocks a homeless person being taken away in an ambulance.

Policing, Racism, Ableism and Transphobia

“Half the homies in Boulder have some disability if they think it’ll get them off some hook.”

Safer makes it abundantly clear that they want a larger and more active police presence in Boulder. Their Change.org petition calls for full enforcement of the camping ban and increased patrols around bike paths and pedestrian areas. Comments in their Slack team suggest that members expect the cops to destroy homeless encampments almost immediately after they appear. In the following comments, Craig and Jillian boast that their tactic of mass-reporting encampments has resulted in more sweeps.

Here Shari Roth suggests that, despite the coronavirus pandemic, more criminals should be jailed in the city. She encourages others to contact council member Bob Yates with the suggestion, because she has already bothered him enough. (By June 6th, 2020 the rate of COVID-19 infections for incarcerated and jailed people was 5.5 times higher than that of the general population, and the death rate 3 times higher.)

Thankfully, Todd, Steven and Shari shared some other creative solutions to help the city imprison more people.

Safer’s Steven Rosenblum even praises the racist and classist tactic of “broken windows” policing instituted in New York City in the 1990s by Rudy Guliani, which disproportionately targeted racial minorities for minor, non-violent offenses and paved the way for “stop and frisk” policies.

In response to reports that a bike thief was issued a felony summons, Todd complains that the police should have kicked him “in the nuts,” and Jillian complains about cops being “too gentle.”

Safer views the homeless as unruly invaders and the police as the sole arbiters and enforcers of peace and order, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they take some deeply troubling stances on police brutality.

“Sammie and Zayd knew exactly what they were doing…”

In March of 2019, a black Naropa student named Zayd Atkinson was detained and threatened with violence by several BPD officers for picking up garbage in his yard. Just one month later, another black man named Sammie Lawrence was violently arrested for peacefully filming the police and refusing to put down the walking aid he used for his seizure disorder. According to Jillian Lloyd, these men were not innocent victims of racism and police aggression; they “knew exactly what they were doing.”

As much as Jillian may try to pretend that racism and homelessness exist in isolation, the facts suggest otherwise and the connection is very well documented. Despite making up only 13% of the United States population, black Americans account for 40% of houseless people in the country due to centuries of racist discrimination. Lawrence himself was formerly homeless, and he was arrested while advocating for his houseless friends.

Jillian also claims that Lawrence was not beaten by the officer. Body camera footage shows him being forcefully wrestled to the ground, despite posing no threat. He was taken to the hospital for his injuries, where he suffered from a stress triggered seizure due to his traumatic brain injury. While he was not literally beaten, it is irrefutable that he was physically brutalized by the police.

Below, Jillian warns that Lawrence will be appearing at a protest, suggesting that he is a possible threat who should be watched closely. Todd jokes that he wants Sammie’s autograph.

Below, Katharine Hauge defends the officer who arrested Lawrence and Shirley Frewin suggests that a photo of then was “doctored up using CGI.”

Sammie isn’t the only marginalized person to end up on the receiving end of Safer Boulder’s ridicule. Another even more popular target is a homeless activist named Dan Barnard, one of the residents of the Occupy Boulder camp established at the Boulder Municipal Building in August. In the early hours of the morning on August 28th, the Boulder Police Department swept the encampment. Like Sammie Lawrence, Barnard also suffers from seizures, and the bright lights from the police vehicle nearly triggered zir epilepsy.

After Barnard posted a video of the incident to zir Twitter account, Safer members took to Slack to make fun of zir accent and spiritual beliefs and suggest that ze was faking zir seizure disorder. Jillian’s sarcastic comment about needing a “walking stick” is a reference to Sammie Lawrence’s walking aid, which was deemed a weapon by the police, resulting in his arrest.

Another Occupy Boulder resident named Angela also has seizures and uses cannabis to self-medicate. The screenshots below show Safer members mocking Dan’s request for help and implying that ze and Angela are faking their symptoms or using their disabilities as an excuse for laziness.

According to them, not only are Sammie and Dan faking their seizures, but so is a large portion of the homeless population. These comments by Todd and Jillian would look pretty bad if it turned out that homeless people were eight times more likely to suffer from epilepsy and that about half of all homeless people have traumatic brain injuries.

“He is nonbinary. If you use the wrong pronoun, he will assault you.”

Safer’s constant bullying of Dan Barnard isn’t just classist and ableist; it is also horribly transphobic. Dan is nonbinary and uses ze/zim/zir pronouns.

Safer members are perfectly aware of this, but they continue not only to misgender zim, but to ridicule zim for zir gender identity.

Dan’s girlfriend is a transgender woman, which Todd and Flatiron Views find very confusing. Todd refers to her as a “dude,” uses the pronoun “it,” and and calls her “Satan” in the following post.

They also mock Dan’s pagan spiritual beliefs, repeatedly calling zim “Gandalf” and, bizarrely, “the anal wizard.”

Housing insecurity and homelessness disproportionately affect transgender and other LGBTQ+ people since so many of them face housing discrimination, family rejection and other forms of bigotry. One in five transgender people have experienced homelessness. Yet, Safer Boulder members never acknowledge that these systemic problems exist, let alone try to find solutions. Instead, they look down upon disabled people, LGBTQ+ people and people of color experiencing homelessness, portraying them as lazy, entitled liars.

City Council Support

“Put out food stray cats will come.”

So far, we’ve demonstrated that Safer Boulder is a classist, racist and transphobic organization that exists to lobby city officials to be more cruel toward the homeless. Now, let’s take a look at which city leaders are actually listening to them. Remember how Safer’s policy recommendations were featured in a staff presentation to city council? It turns out that City Council member Mark Wallach pulled some strings to make that happen.

Safer’s own Peggy Sands worked for Wallach’s campaign.

Safer also has a friendly relationship with Republican council member Bob Yates. Here, Shari claims that he has been reaching out to the group.

Shari has posted a number of communications with Bob Yates, including what appears to be coordination to oppose a proposal for a sanctioned campground for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

Additional communications between Shari Roth and Bob Yates can be see on her Safer Leaks page.

Shari isn’t the only member who stays in contact with Bob Yates. Here is a passionate rant addressed to him by Peggy Sands, featuring the usual harmful stereotypes. She also uses dehumanizing language, comparing the houseless to stray animals.

Leslie Chandler also contacted Bob Yates to complain about homeless encampments around the city, and he advised her to “call the police immediately” about any campsites she sees.

Safer also collaborates with the police department. Brooke Harrison serves on the BPD’s Community Dialogue and Engagement Panel, where she works with Police Chief Maris Herold to bolster support within Boulder City Council for more homeless sweeps.

After Boulder Police Department began aggressively sweeping homeless encampments downtown, Steven Rosenblum decided to cater lunch for BPD on behalf of Safer. The police department and Safer Boulder both discourage giving food to people living in poverty, but Safer sent the police free food as a thank you for enforcing the unconstitutional camping ban.

Spying on Homeless Advocates

“I was thinking we need a mole in Boulder Progressives to find out what they’re up to.”

Safer Boulder has a special hatred for local progressive activists. Their Slack workspace contains several posts encouraging members to “spy on” activist groups. One user “infiltrated” Boulder Progressives by signing up for their mailing list.

They have also posted personal information about these progressives multiple times, including one person’s home address and another’s LinkedIn page. What did these individuals do to provoke such blatant violations of their personal privacy? They made public comments to City Council that Safer Boulder disagreed with. Todd and Jillian’s comments below provide some context.

Peggy Sands hated Ruy Arango’s comments to council so much that she looked up his address and posted for the whole group to see. Her intentions in doing so are unclear.

As with Safer’s abusive rhetoric, their lack of respect for privacy does not stop at their group messages. These leaked screenshots also suggest that Craig Books went to the East Mapleton Ballfields to watch members of Boulder SAFE (a homeless advocacy group, not to be confused with Safer) distribute care packages to people experiencing homelessness. He then reported back to the group detailed information on their physical appearances and the car they drove, advising other members to watch out for them.

Later, Safer members planned on attending another event hosted by Boulder SAFE to “gather information.” Below, they joke about attempting to steal the supplies intended for homeless people. Shirley Frewin suggests showing up at all the group’s events to intimidate them and stop them from organizing.

Conclusion

“Do they clean meth bowls for free too?”

Safer Boulder claims to support the existing homeless services in Boulder, yet they have negative things to say about most of the shelters and programs the city has to offer. Here, Todd and Craig praise EFAA, but Todd states that “all these other homeless services places are dubious.”

Here, Katharine complains about litter being left behind after the free “Friendship Dinner” at the Boulder courthouse.

Safer Boulder members also have some harsh criticisms for Boulder’s homeless youth prorgram, Attention Homes, which serves people ages 12-24. According to Mark Mallen, the shelter was established by progressives to bring “out of town trouble makers” into the city.

Below, Todd Root calls Attention Homes “Aggression Homes.”

They also have harsh words for advocates in the community who offer direct support to the homeless. Here are Katie Lehr and Todd Root mocking activists who let houseless people shower and do laundry in their homes.

Here, Shari says she hopes that Bob Yates will discourage community members from distributing food and supplies to homeless people.

Safer Boulder wants full enforcement of the camping ban, yet they are opposed to a sanctioned campground. Despite massive cuts to emergency services that have left the majority of houseless people without shelter options, they maintain that Boulder has “robust” resources. They complain about advocates who distribute food and supplies, claiming that it discourages people from going through Coordinated Entry, but they also express disdain for programs that provide permanent housing. While their members report encampments to the police as soon as they appear, they also complain about the taxpayer expense of emergency calls.

Safer does not hide the fact that they don’t have any solutions to homelessness. They just want unhoused people out of sight. They know that sweeps and police patrols don’t put people in housing, but they call for them anyway because they make the lives of the homeless harder. Safer’s goal is to punish those they deem “transients” until they have no choice but to leave the city. Shari Roth lays all this out very succinctly in the following comment. With under 200 beds for a homeless population of over 400, the message is clear. This organization wants most of the people on Boulder’s streets gone, no matter the cost.