PERSON: Maris Herold

Boulder Police Department

Chief of Police

Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold began her professional career as a social worker, serving as a sexual assault investigator and a juvenile psychiatric intake worker, before joining the Cincinnati Police Department in 1993. Throughout her tenure at CPD, Chief Herold developed and implemented several notable initiatives, including mental health response teams, numerous place-based crime reduction efforts, and ethical and constitutional responses to address community needs associated with homelessness and substance abuse issues. In addition, her collaboration with public and private entities led to neighborhood stabilization and affordable housing opportunities in underserved communities. In 2016, she retired from the CPD and joined the University of Cincinnati Police Division (UCPD), first as Assistant Police Chief, followed shortly by a promotion to Police Chief in 2018. She was the first female police executive to hold either position within the UCPD. Chief Herold has received several awards for her community collaboration and large-scale problem-solving projects to reduce crime and improve services for at-risk populations, including the 2016 Cincinnati Collaborative Agreement and Problem-Solving Award, and the 2017 and 2022 Herman Goldstein Awards for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing. She holds a master’s degree in Criminal Justice from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the Police Executive Research Forum’s Senior Management Institute for Police. She is currently an Executive Fellow at the National Policing Institute. She has served as police chief in Boulder, Colorado since April 2020, leading her community and agency through the 2021 King Soopers mass shooting. Chief Herold is committed to ensuring that the Boulder Police Department is recognized across the country as a model police agency, dedicated to evidence-based innovation and reform.

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