Washington, D.C. firm hired by Colorado Springs police to audit use-of-force, other officer procedures

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- A yearlong process ended Monday with the police department's announcement of hiring an independent analyst to audit officer procedures such as use-of-force, de-escalation tactics and other police procedures.

Police said that department leaders and community leaders -- including the Law Enforcement Transparency and Advisory Commission (LETAC) -- evaluated several auditing firms and chose the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).

Commander John Koch said that PERF was the best option because of its expertise in the field, having conducted similar audits of other police departments and having developed a model used by law enforcement to make decisions.

He explained how PERF will conduct the audit during the next nine months.

"They'll do it in a number of ways," he said. "We've provided documentation, policies, training guidelines to PERF for them to analyze at their facility in Washington, D.C. But they'll also be traveling to Colorado Springs a few times during the duration of the study, to meet with focus groups of police officers, community members and things like that."

At the end of the audit, PERF plans to hold a public meeting to announce their findings and make recommendations.

The selection of an auditing firm was suggested in April 2022 by the independent consulting firm Transparency Matters.

Police said that they've also completed or are presently working on other recommendations from the TM report, including:

• Implementing Significant Event Briefing videos in February 2023, which provide a public video briefing within 21 days of a significant event.
• Providing enhanced training on de-escalation for all sworn employees (April – June 2023).

• Planning & providing several in-person supervisor training courses throughout 2023.
• Developing & providing enhanced training to all sworn department supervisors on how we review instances of use of force (March 2023) and pointing of firearms (August 2023) by our police officers.
• Developing updated policies on use of force, reporting use of force, and pointing of firearms (February – August 2023).
• Developing new first-line supervisor and mentorship programs for sworn and professional staff supervisors (in progress).
• Expanding department programs and partnerships designed to build upon our relationship with community members (in progress).
• Continuing to develop a Procedural Justice model for our department, with the goal of enhancing how we communicate with the people we serve (in progress).

Police say that PERF signed a contract for a maximum amount of $244,780, financed with funding from the Department of Justice Equitable Sharing Program.