DENVER – The first three measures of a package of bills that aim to “rebuild trust” between police and communities sailed through a state Senate committee Wednesday.
All three bills were co-sponsored by Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango.
“I do think of it as bad apples, because a bad apple, we all know, we don’t want the bad apple spoiling the whole bunch,” Roberts said. “We don’t believe we have a rampant problem, but for those folks who should be in a different career other than law enforcement, we expect the highest level of integrity.”
The effort comes amid incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York, where grand juries did not indict white police officers in the deaths of unarmed black men.
The bills Wednesday had wide consensus in the law-enforcement community, with no opposition lining up to testify against the measures. They passed with unanimous support from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Seven other police reform measures – some of which are a bit more high profile – still are awaiting legislative hearings.
The steps taken Wednesday included measures that would:
Allow law-enforcement agencies to access personnel information on an officer who is applying for a job as an officer, including information related to misconduct.
Require agencies to provide demographic information in officer-involved shooting incidents.
Direct law-enforcement agencies to develop policies for reviewing officer-involved shootings.
The measures must still receive final support from the Senate before heading to the House for approval.
Other bills that are on the way run the gamut, including encouraging the use of body cameras, prohibiting the use of chokeholds, guaranteeing a person’s right to film police incidents and allowing a judge to require a special prosecutor to handle serious officer misconduct cases, among other measures.
“It should be called police-transparency bills,” said Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, a former sheriff who co-sponsored the legislation with Roberts. “There’s been a big uproar over the nation and in Colorado about law enforcement, but they put their lives on the line every day for everybody.”
pmarcus@durangoherald.com
