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June 25, 2020 • THE VILLAGER | PAGE 11
Tully added, “We want to be part of the solution….We want to work together on a plan for QF that the community can be proud of,” adding that he and his wife are willing to donate $100,000 to “a plan that works for us and our neighbors,” and that “It would be our privilege.” Gerda Weis, a member of the Cherry Hills Land Preserve, spoke to register her overall agreement with the previous speakers. Debbie Wells, a member of the original 2014 QF Visioning Committee, said “The last horse will leave QF in two weeks. The barnyard looks and feels strikingly abandoned. It is highly visible from the HLC. During her life, Candy (Gray) frequently asked trespassers from there to leave. A new caretaker is needed.” Later in the meeting, Mayor Stewart, who formerly chaired the Quincy Farm Committee, noted that the city council had the authority to retain a caretaker for QF and one is permitted by the conservation easement. Katy Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, pointed out that the city council had not yet seen the draft master plan about which multiple mem-
bers of the public had testified. She further said that she would not feel comfortable moving forward with any decision at QF without hearing from the QF Committee. Council Member Al Blum asked if there is a current security issue at QF. Michelle Tovrea, chief of police reported that there had been no criminal calls for service at QF in 2020 but that patrols could be increased in the area. Council Member Mike Gallagher suggested that the council begin investigating the installation of a security system with cameras for the property. Emily Black, parks and recreation coordinator, told the city council that staff was going to walk the property with the police department later in the week to get their recommendations for short and long-term security measures. She also reported that staff was in the process of taking over maintenance on the east side of the property that was formerly done by Candy Gray. Council Member Afshin Safavi said it was important to let those who spoke at the meeting know what actions are taken as a result of their testimony. Fmiklin.villager@gmail.com
Arapahoe County Law Enforcement provides realistic look at implementation of new “Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity” law
see if they are even compatible with the culture and at the agency” said Brown “I know there are plenty of times we pass on candidates due to those polygraph examinations.” Next, they move on to an oral board - which is a panel interview - with several different levels of command staff, and then a chief’s interview, and then on to one final psychological interview before any candidate is offered a job at ACSO. “There’s robust psychological evaluations,” said Sheriff Brown. “We see a lot of horrific things on his job, that sometimes we need to go and talk about. It hasn’t always been the most popular thing in law enforcement - and I’ll be the first to admit it - that there’s been a culture and a stigma around it,” said Sheriff Brown, who pointed out that he proudly boasts a “#StopTheStigma” hashtag sticker on his iPad. “It’s really creating another culture inside of our agency that mental health is just as important as your physical health. It’s just as important as your driving skills, your arrest control techniques. It’s making sure that you have those skills to go be mentally healthy, and be in the community to help our citizens.” For a link to all of the policies, Policies and directives at the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Departments - including training, use of force, and body worn cameras visit www.tinyurl.com/ACSDpnd.
ABOVE: Natalie Anderson spoke on behalf of her grandmother Cat Anderson’s family. RIGHT: This view is from the sunroom in the back of the main home on Quincy Farm. Photo by Freda Miklin
QF said that he “has been very disappointed” by the process and resulting draft master plan which he believes is not compliant with the property’s conservation easement. He said that he has attended and spoken at meetings of the QF committee but was unsuccessful in getting the plan changed. Jamrich stated that he and others believe that “the conservation easement that governs the property would best be served by having QF be a sustainable, small-scale working farm with a focus on education of the children of our community.” He talked about a proposed firepit, noting that the current chair of the PTRC said that no park in the city allows fires. On the subject of
BY JESSICA ROE GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
MODERN DENTISTRY
A meeting designed for the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Department to inform Centennial’s City Council on what the Senate Bill 217 to “Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity”, recently signed into law by Colorado Governor Jared Polis, ended up taking a turn when outgoing District Attorney George Brauchler took the helm to cut straight to the point. “I think that what we’re underestimating here, is how challenging this is going to be,” said Brauchler, in regards to both abiding by the intent of the law, and the actual implementation of the physical parts of SB217. “It’s going to be fraught with inaccuracies, and we need to have this information, but we need to be realistic about what we can and can’t show.” Mayor Stephanie Piko and the entire Council had been meeting with Sheriff Tyler Brown and Captain Jared Rowlison, the head of Investigation Services, on Monday night, June 22, where those from the city posed poignant, strategic, and thoughtful questions to the law enforcement officer in this era of heightened racial tensions. The meeting had been underway for approximately 22 minutes
parking, he said, “We counted 40 parking spaces,” and recommended an on-site caretaker, a role that had been fulfilled by Candy Gray. Like previous speakers, Jamrich noted the need for increased maintenance at QF. Natalie Anderson, granddaughter of Cat Anderson, came to say that although she is not a CHV resident, she is the only member of her family who has had any involvement with this project. She said, “I have not endorsed this plan, nor do I feel that feedback that I’ve given since the beginning of this process has been thoughtfully addressed nor has it been incorporated into the plan…..Of paramount importance to me is
before Brauchler appeared to join late, and jump right into the conversation, where he provided the critical look at SB217. The bill, which was just signed into law by Polis on Friday, June 19, made Colorado the first state to end qualified immunity, which was a legal measure that shields a government official - in this case a law enforcement officer - from being sued on the basis that a plaintiff’s rights had been violated. The sweeping measure also requires all state and local police wear body cameras by 2023 - with footage being made public upon request within 21 days. “The footage is stored as evidence, and as part of the new senate bill, we have 21 days to provide that footage with a complaint from a victim from a suspect or a nonprofit third party and our policy will mirror that with the implementation of a more robust body camera requirements as legislated in senate bill ,” said Sheriff Brown. “I appreciate the vigor with which Sheriff Brown is going into this with, but the one part I don’t think he’s sold to you, is that this is going to be challenging,” said Brauchler “21-days unless there’s an ongoing investigation, and that’s stretched out until - I want to say, 40-or-45, and there’s an issue here related to that. And I know here
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that this property be shared with the community in a way that is consistent with my grandmother’s vision and the spirit and letter of the easement.” She recommended that the property “should be protected like the historic farm that it is and not treated like a trailhead for the High Line Canal.” Dan Tully lives with his wife Dianne on property that “directly abuts QF.” He complimented the CHV Police Department, noting that “QF recently saw the downside of homelessness,” observing that, “When a property looks abandoned, bad things happen.” He also recommended a caretaker be retained as well as a “sophisticated security system” for the property.
everybody’s excited about, ‘I want to see body cams, transparency.’ The problem it creates from the prosecution standpoint is I have two big ethical rules, one of which only applies only to prosecutors, which says, ‘I’m really not allowed to put things into the public stream that might poison the future jury pool against an accused’ and that accused might be a law enforcement officer, it might be the citizen to whom some force was used. I worry about that. I also worry about the fact we have created some exceptions, but probably not enough, to give maximum protection to victims.” Brauchler pointed out if this happens, we might see many cases in the future requesting change of venue out of JD18 and into other judicial districts. “I think the other piece of this though, about racial profiling, is I think we probably need to continue encourage the public - without judgment or stigma - to be able to voice their concerns if they think they were racially profiled, and to make it as easy as possible to make that known to Sheriff Brown, and my guess is he’ll run those things to the ground every single time,” said Brauchler. “Having that dual thing - the statistics as well as the open door policy for the public - it seems we’re gonna ferret out these
problems if they really exist or if these things are explainable by something else.” The law also bans chokeholds and the shooting of fleeing suspects, and using deadly force unless a life is in immediate danger. Immediately, officers are now required to report every time they stop a person suspected of a crime and record that individual’s ethnicity, race and gender. Sheriff Brown assured the Mayor and Council that his team has already started collecting such data, and they are working on a back-end solution to store it so it can be searchable in a data-mining sense. Sheriff Brown and Captain Rowlison continued to answer questions for more than two and a half hours from Council. Brown said his department is working proactively to root out any deputies with racial biases. He also pointed out the department even does this at length in the hiring process. “Part of hiring process is psychological exam, that starts with a written application, then a written exam, then a physical agility test, and only after you pass those three parts, the candidate is sent right into a psychological polygraph examination so ASCO can identify biases in the candidate’s nature, and get to the bottom of those, and
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