Officer-involved shooting comes on the heels of Colorado Springs Police Dept.’s new body-cam policy

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Colorado Springs Police Department's (CSPD) new body cam footage policy will be put into action following an officer-involved shooting early Monday morning.

CPSD received a call from a woman at an apartment complex on the 3900 block of Bijou Street, who said a man with a weapon was knocking on her door and window.

When officers arrived, they found the man had a gun. According to police, multiple commands were given to the suspect to drop the weapon. The suspect pointed the firearm at officers and at least one officer fired at least one round, hitting the suspect. The man died on the scene.

Three officers with the Colorado Springs Police Department are now on administrative leave. The El Paso County Sheriff's Office took over the investigation.

According to the CSPD’s new policy, the body camera footage from the shooting should be released within the next 21 days.

In 2020, Transparency Matters LLC was hired by the City of Colorado Springs to provide a systematic review of the use of force patterns and trends within the CSPD. The consultant company surveyed Colorado Springs residents and CSPD officers.

The 250-page report recommends a variety of changes, from more training to changes in policy. One area both residents and officers agreed on was increasing transparency with the public.

About 41% of respondents answered open-ended survey questions about how CSPD can foster trust and build relationships with the community. One of the most common recommendations was to “increase transparency with the public (e.g., faster release of body camera footage, more proactive media strategy, more publicly available data and reports, improved complaint process).”

Some residents specifically said body camera footage should be released sooner.

“If there is a situation where force occurs, and body camera video is available, don't sit on it, the longer you delay the more distrust you foster,” said one respondent, according to the survey.

“Release body-worn camera video much sooner and not wait for the completion of an IA [Internal Affairs] Investigation,” another respondent added. “The longer you wait to release the video it gives the perception to the public that you’ve got something to hide.”

Through focus groups, interviews, and surveys, CSPD officers expressed similar viewpoints. According to the report, some officers said because the information isn’t released promptly, rumors grow in the community.

“[Officers] suggested that it takes the CSPD nine months to a year to release body camera footage for critical incidents (compare this to some agencies that release footage within 48 hours),” the report said. “Several officers noted that the CSPD should follow the more progressive approaches of the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, Los Angeles Police Department, or Phoenix Police Department, where information is released to the media in a routine, packaged format.”

In the report, officers speculated the hold-up in releasing body cam footage might be due to the CSPD administration, the District Attorney’s Office, or the Sheriff’s Office (responsible for investigating officer-involved shootings).

“Officers generally agreed that more information provided to the public is good for the police because it disproves the narrative that officers are engaged in inappropriate behavior,” the report said.

In its final report to the city of Colorado Springs and the CSPD in April 2022, one of the recommendations was to “develop a standardized approach for the timely release of information regarding critical incidents.”

Last week, the Colorado Springs Police Department changed its policy to do just that. It will now release body cam footage within 21 days of a “significant event,” like an officer-involved shooting or a death in custody.

The CSPD declined to be interviewed for this story.

Senator Bob Gardner sponsored a bill, that eventually became law in 2021, that requires all local law enforcement agencies and the Colorado state patrol to release unedited video and audio recordings of an incident 21 days after it’s requested by the public.

CSPD’s new policy doesn’t require a request, with the video being shared with the public 21 days after the incident.

“The timely and consistent release of information to the public is critical to the perceptions of transparency to the public and support for officers,” said the Transparency Matters report.