A police officer from the CU Police Department has been placed on administrative leave after allegations of racism, anti-Semitism, and anti-homelessness surfaced on their Reddit and personal Facebook account

University of Colorado Boulder Police Officer Drew Matthews has been placed on administrative leave whilst the CUPD internal affairs department investigates posts allegedly made on his Reddit account and his personal Facebook account. 

The news broke via a Twitter thread made by SAFE: Safe Access for Everyone, on their Twitter account @safeboulder. According to their Twitter bio, they are “abolitionists fighting for the rights of unhoused people through mutual aid and direct action.” 

The Twitter thread was posted on Monday, Apr. 11, and linked to several pieces of evidence both connecting Matthews to his Reddit account (/u/BocoRam18) as well as depicting the alleged comments in question. 

The alleged comments were made on a variety of Reddit communities such as /r/Boulder, /r/CUBoulder, and /r/ProtectandServe; the latter is a subreddit community for law enforcement officers. The posts range from disparaging comments about houseless and Black individuals as well as anti-Semitic comments being made in defense of anti-mask and anti-vaccine rhetoric. 

Matthews was placed on paid administrative leave Monday and the University issued a statement calling the alleged posts “offensive and reprehensible.”

The allegations are currently under investigation by the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance and CUPD’s professional standards unit, the statement said. 

Additionally, Chief of Police at CUPD Doreen Jokerst released a statement saying, “We would like to thank members of our community for bringing this to our attention. CUPD takes allegations of this nature very seriously. We are taking immediate action to conduct an internal investigation.” 

Matthews has worked with CUPD for eight years, first under Records and Fleet and now as an officer. CUPD is asking anyone with more information about any of the alleged content to reach out to any of the following: the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance at 303-492-2172, cureport@colorado.edu, or the CU Police department internal affairs section at 303-492-6666.

This is a developing story and will be monitored and updated as more information from the University and CUPD is released.