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PAGE 2 | THE VILLAGER • June 18, 2020
Legislature responds to demand for increased accountability for law enforcement officers BY FREDA MIKLIN GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
The death of George Floyd on May 25 while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers has raised issues around the country about sometimes invisible institutional racism. The Colorado general assembly acted swiftly to ensure that law enforcement officers in our state know what is expected of them and that data will begin to be collected and made public to demonstrate that our officers are doing the right things for the right reasons, beginning in two years. After Senate Bill 20-217, the Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity (ELEI) bill, passed unanimously in the state senate and with yes votes by all the Democrats and ten out of 23 Republicans in the House, Governor Polis made it official by saying, “I commend the sponsors and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for their efforts to pass this landmark reform bill,” signaling he would sign it as soon as it came across his desk. Prime sponsors of this legislation were Democratic Senators Leroy Garcia and Rhonda Fields, along with Democratic Representatives Leslie Herod and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez. Like every bill that passes this legislature and virtually all others, it was amended from its original form be-
tween introduction on June 3 and final passage nine days later. In its final form passed on June 12, the new law requires that, beginning July 1, 2023:
1. Colorado state patrol and all local (city and county) law enforcement agencies throughout the state must issue body-worn cameras to all law enforcement officers. The cameras must be worn and activated when officers are responding to a call for service or during any interaction with the public initiated by the officer while enforcing the law or investigating a possible violation of the law. The cameras may only be turned off to avoid recording personal information that is not related to the investigation, while the officer is working on an unrelated assignment, while there is a long break in the incident or while the officer is making contact not related to the initial incident, and during administrative, tactical, and management discussions. The camera need not be worn when the officer is working undercover. All recordings of an incident must be released to the pubic within 21 days after a complaint of misconduct is received by the law enforcement agency in which the officer serves. Private information on the recording may be redacted
Governor Polis made it official by saying,“I commend the sponsors and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for their efforts to pass this landmark reform bill,” signaling he would sign it as soon as it came across his desk.
or not released to the public in certain circumstances. Officers who serve in a jail that has video cameras are generally not subject to this requirement except in certain specific circumstances. Officers must verify the functionality of the camera at the beginning of each shift. 2. The Division of Criminal Justice in the Colorado
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Department of Public Safety must create an annual report comprised of the information that it receives from every city and county agency that employs law enforcement officers and from the state patrol, which must include: • All uses of force by law enforcement officers that result in death or serious bodily injury; • All instances when a law enforcement officer resigned while under investigation for violating departmental policy; • All required data relating to contacts conducted by the agencies’ law enforcement officers; • All required data related to the use of an unannounced entry by a law enforcement officer. • The information collected by the Division of Criminal Justice from law enforcement agencies statewide will be organized and published on a database on its website in a searchable format. Any law enforcement agency that fails to meet its reporting requirement is subject to having its funding suspended. Current state law requires that every law enforcement officer in Colorado who serves in any government agency whatsoever in any capacity must be certified by the Peace Officers Standards and Training (P.O.S.T) board in order to have the authority to carry firearms at all times, concealed or open, subject to the written firearms policy of the agency in which the officer serves. 1. ELEI requires that any law enforcement officer in the state who is convicted of or pleads guilty or “no contest” to a crime involving the unlawful use or threatened use of physical force shall have his or her P.O.S.T board certification permanently revoked. The P.O.S.T board may not reinstate the officer’s certification or grant that officer new certification under any circumstances, unless the officer is exonerated by a court of law. 2. ELEI also enumerates actions that law enforcement is prohibited from taking in response to a protest of demonstration. They are: • The discharge of kinetic impact projectiles and all other non-or less-lethal projectiles in a manner that targets the head, pelvis, or back; • The discharge of kinetic impact projectiles indiscriminately into a crowd; • The use of chemical agents or irritants, including pepper spray and tear gas, unless a prior order to
disperse has been issued in a sufficient manner to ensure that the order is heard and repeated if necessary. After such an order is given, sufficient time and space must be allowed to given protesters or demonstrators to comply with the order to disperse before chemical agents or irritants such as pepper spray or tear gas is used. In the area of civil liability for one’s actions, ELEI permits any individual who has a constitutional right under the Colorado constitution that is infringed upon by a law enforcement officer to sue the officer for the violation. If the plaintiff wins the lawsuit, he or she is entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees. If the defendant wins and the lawsuit is determined to be frivolous, the defendant is entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees from the plaintiff who brought the frivolous suit. Qualified immunity is not a defense to this type of civil suit. The jurisdiction that employs the officer must pay the amount due if the officer loses the suit, unless the jurisdiction determines that the law enforcement officer “did not act upon a good faith and reasonable belief that the action was lawful.” In that case, the officer “is personally liable for five percent of the judgment, up to $25,000, if the officer is financially able to pay it. If not, the employer pays the entire judgment. ELEI limits the use of physical force and deadly force. Law enforcement officers are prohibited from using chokeholds. If a law enforcement officer sees another law enforcement officer use unlawful physical forces, he or she must intervene and also file a report about the incident. An officer who fails to intervene when required to do so will lose his or her P.O.S.T. board certification. Under the requirements of ELEI, beginning July 1, 2022, 1. A law enforcement officer must have a defined legal basis for making a contact. After making a contact, the officer must report to his or her employing agency the information about the contact that the agency is required to report to the Division of Criminal Justice of the Colorado Department of Public Safety, including the perceived demographic information of the person contacted. 2. The P.O.S.T. board will create and maintain a database containing information related to an individual law enforcement officer’s: • Untruthfulness; • Repeated failure to follow P.O.S.T. board training requirements; • Decertification by the P.O.S.T. board; • Termination for cause. Fmiklin.villager@gmail.com
