Colorado law enforcement call for funding and clarity as new police accountability bill advances
DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) — A police accountability clarification bill is prompting more questions than answers for some local departments.
Just one day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of George Floyd’s death, the Colorado legislature advanced a bill that would specify some portions of the original police accountability bill passed in 2020, SB20-217.
“As lawmakers are working to make policing more transparent and improve it, we are certainly on board,” said Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith.
However, Smith says Colorado’s SB20-217, which passed quickly at the height of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, isn’t detailed enough.
“There were some simple drafting errors in the language that created legal conflicts and different attorneys that we were involved with have not been able to bring to resolution,” said Smith.
The Larimer County Sheriff’s Department was hoping to get clarity from a bill currently under review in the Colorado General Assembly. However, Smith believes HB21-1250 further complicates compliance.
“The re-write of use of force under this bill really talks about it being an absolute last resort,” said Smith. “Well, that really kind of goes down the road of these incidents having time to develop. When you have someone with a knife or gun, there are literally seconds to microseconds to make a decision.”
Sgt. Franklyn Ortega with the Pueblo Police Department reports room for improvement as well.
“They obviously had some concept in mind when they came up with it. But to be able to deliver it, that’s where we’ve got to communicate with the legislature,” said Ortega.
Both law enforcement leaders point to the extreme costs of cloud storage for all body-worn camera footage. The cost is not funded through the original police accountability bill, nor the clarification bill.
“It was going to take 12 staff members just to manage the data,” said Smith. “Twelve positions — not to police, not to do records, just to manage the video data.”
Along with the challenges, Sgt. Ortega says the use of body-worn cameras is a great asset. Ortega said the Pueblo Police Department already had body cameras before the new law, which now requires all officers to wear them by 2023.
“We see definite benefits with having the cameras,” said Ortega. “We have better cases and we’ve had allegations and complaints against officers either supported or not supported based on the video.”
The clarification bill would also require employers to see if officers with Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) certification are part of a misconduct database prior to hiring, appointing, or transferring them.
Another change listed in HB21-1250 would require officers to start reporting contact with the public beginning on January 1, 2022, instead of January 1, 2023.
The original police accountability bill required the POST board to permanently decertify a peace officer if the officer failed to intervene and serious bodily injury or death occurred. HB21-1250 changes the penalty to a suspension of the officer's certification for one year.
KRDO Newschannel 13 has reached out to the sponsors of HB21-1250 for comment.
