The programs are meant to improve interactions between officers and people with invisible disabilities that might make communication difficult. The namesake blue envelopes contain information about the person's condition — such as explaining that they have autism, Tourette syndrome or are deaf — and how that might impact their behavior or needs. Participants fill out the envelope ahead of time and present it to officers during traffic stops or other police interactions.
The concept got its start in Connecticut in 2020, but it didn't reach Colorado until January, when the Boulder Police Department launched the state's first program.
"It's really gratifying to see it spread," says Alastair McNiven, BPD's chief of staff. “The feedback from the community has been overwhelmingly positive. ...This program is not just a great concept, but it actually functions in the real world."
Boulder officers are trained on how to best engage with individuals with different disabilities, he says. While individuals with a blue envelope still have to follow the law, it allows them to explain any important information, limitations or needed accommodations to officers in writing, rather than trying to communicate it on the spot during a potentially dangerous or high-pressure situation.
McNiven says BPD learned about the Blue Envelope program while researching autism-specific projects in other states. While speaking with community organizations, the department learned that members of Boulder's deaf and hard-of-hearing community were also frustrated with communication issues during recent traffic stops. BPD then decided to expand its effort to improve encounters with all people with invisible disabilities.
"It's a great tool to minimize misunderstandings," McNiven says, offering an example of a person with autism refusing to make eye contact during a traffic stop. "You might otherwise interpret that as having some other basis. Would you think this person was an impaired driver? But having the blue envelope presented to you should clue you in that there may be something else going on."
The BPD has given out over 500 blue envelopes to people who requested them. And the requests have not been limited to Boulder; people from across the state have asked for the envelopes, according to McNiven.
As the word spread statewide, other agencies began adopting Blue Envelope programs. Current participants include the Adams County Sheriff's Office, Arvada Police Department, Boulder County Sheriff's, Commerce City Police, Edgewater Police, Erie Police, Evergreen Fire Rescue, Firestone Police, Golden Police, Jefferson County Sheriff's, Lakewood Police, Lafayette Police, Longmont Police, Louisville Police, Thornton Police, West Metro Fire Rescue and Wheat Ridge Police.
Participants can self-report disabilities, needed accommodations or other concerns on the envelope for officers to read.
Boulder Police Department
“AdvocacyDenver always appreciates measures that are taken to help the police/other first responders to understand individuals with disabilities," Bisceglia says. "The hope is that such measures will improve police interactions with members of the disability community. Improvement is needed in Denver."
However, Bisceglia notes that many community members have concerns about disclosing their disabilities, fearing the creation of a police registry that could be misused against individuals. Those fears are only heightened for immigrants with disabilities, amidst increasingly aggressive activity by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and reports of federal officials using local police resources for ICE searches.
Because of such worries, Boulder's Blue Envelope program does not include any kind of registry. No participant list or data storage is maintained, and participants can even request the envelopes via email if they do not feel comfortable coming to the police station in person.
McNiven says these adjustments were made in response to feedback from the community. He emphasizes the major role disability advocacy groups played in developing BPD's program, and urges other police departments to involve their own local advocacy groups and solicit community feedback.
Craig Towler, public policy director of the Center for People with Disabilities, echoes this, saying his most important advice for Denver is to co-create the program with the disability community. The CPWD partnered with the BPD during the development of its Blue Envelope program to ensure that people with disabilities had the opportunity to provide input. Towler applauds the collaborative process.
"Any time a resource is designed to reduce misunderstandings and provide tools for both officers and community members to feel safer, that’s a step in the right direction," Towler says. "We’ve received positive feedback from community members about the program as a whole, who believe this will help them feel more confident navigating interactions with law enforcement, and that’s meaningful."
Towler says the CPWD is encouraged to see the Blue Envelope program spreading to other law enforcement agencies across the state.
"It shows there’s growing recognition of the importance of improving effective communication in public safety," he adds. "It’s not just about distributing an envelope; it’s about building trust, creating awareness and committing to inclusive practices."
A Denver Police Department spokesperson says it cannot comment on the specifics of its upcoming Blue Envelope program "as details are still being worked out," but McNiven confirms that the department has been in contact with Boulder.
"We've spoken to a number of representatives from Denver PD and provided them with our lessons learned and our template and those sorts of things," Bisceglia says. "For a program like this to catch hold in the way it has speaks to how police are thinking about better serving our community, particularly those community members who have additional challenges in communication. It's wonderful."
Now Boulder is expanding its program, as well. Within the next two weeks, BPD will begin rolling out a smaller, ID-card-sized version of the blue envelope for pedestrians and cyclists to carry, McNiven says. BPD is also working with Boulder Fire Rescue on a version of the blue envelope to go inside the File of Life medical information alert that fire departments ask residents to keep on their refrigerators.
McNiven offers examples of individual success stories, including the first use of Boulder's blue envelope by a woman with PTSD whose car was broken into, and a man who has severe anxiety around police using it to feel more comfortable interacting with officers.
Still, the most important impact the program has had is helping bring community relations to the forefront for police departments nationwide, he says.
"The general discussion about community police interactions has been elevated," McNiven concludes. "It is an opportunity for people to think about that more deeply: How do we interact with our community?"
