A contentious public comment period during the Loveland City Council meeting on Tuesday had Loveland City Councilman Troy Krenning seeking to launch an independent investigation on city employees who don’t report to the City Council.

The comments centered around allegations against the Loveland Police Department and Detective Brian Koopman, among others.

City Council members listened to commenters allege lying, threats and injustice that they say were carried out by Koopman, former Loveland Police Chief Luke Hecker and the Larimer County District Attorney’s Office. They called out the council, Police Chief Bob Ticer and City Manager Steve Adams for their inaction to fire Koopman.

Many of the comments referred to Koopman’s name appearing on the Brady list in Weld County — the list refers to the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that defendants must be informed about favorable evidence that could potentially exonerate a defendant, including issues of a police officer’s credibility or honesty.

A majority of the residents who spoke at the meeting weren’t residents of Larimer County but spoke of their connections to residents in the county who have faced the alleged problems with Koopman and the department or say they just heard about the issues and wanted to speak about them.

EJ Thornton, a Parker resident, said the association of police corruption in a town makes people avoid it.

“I see that innocent people can have their lives ruined for years just because they got sideways of one cop here. I’m not going to risk it,” she said.

Lisa Romanek of Loveland, the wife of Stan Romanek who faces allegations of possession and distribution of child pornography and pleaded not guilty, alleged that Koopman falsified reports and coerced people to lie for him.

She said his actions were tearing her family apart.

“You all participate by allowing it to continue,” Romanek said.

Others spoke of their own cases of alleged injustice and how it’s affected them.

Larimer County resident Stacy Lynne, who introduces herself as an independent investigative journalist, called the elected leaders and city staff “cowards.”

She said that residents who had cases brought against them by Koopman all had clean records prior to those cases and since.

Krenning asked about the City Council launching its own independent investigation on the allegations and determining the facts since members couldn’t get access to the internal affairs investigations and some of the other reports. He said it seemed to be a “true anomaly” that Koopman is on Weld County’s Brady list and not Larimer County’s.

However, City Attorney Tami Yellico said an investigation seemed to contradict the charter about who reports to the City Council: the attorney, municipal judge and city manager, as well as human resources policies protecting employees.

“I think an outside investigation would be unprecedented in the state … and outside your duties,” Yellico said.

After the discussion, Police Chief Bob Ticer said he cannot speak about personnel issues, but “the bottom line is people have the right to come to speak in council.”

Ticer said the cases mentioned at the meeting by commenters are either being handled in the court system or have already been handled.

“We put our faith in the court system,” he said.

Ticer’s message to the community: “The Loveland Police Department is one the finest police departments in the world and we hear that from thousands of people.”

Still, the department accepts complaints — written, verbal and anonymous — and investigates them, he said.

Saja Hindi: 970-699-5404, hindis@reporter-herald.com, twitter.com/BySajaHindi.