Colorado Politics

Changes possible to police-involved shooting protocol

This legislative session may see an attempt to reassess who investigates police-involved shootings, and how independent they should be.

The Colorado Sun reports that Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver, and Gov. Jared Polis are interested in revisiting the subject following the fatal August shooting of De’von Bailey by Colorado Springs police officers.

Polis subsequently called for the El Paso County District Attorney Dan May to turn the case over to another jurisdiction for investigation. On Oct. 4, May announced that a grand jury would be involved.

“We need to ensure that there is integrity within the process and that if we have something that happens in one jurisdiction, that it’s not that same jurisdiction, or that law enforcement entity, or friend of that law enforcement entity being the ones that makes the decision or doing the investigation,” Herod said, according to The Sun. “We need to ensure that it’s truly independent, and that’s what we are looking at for statute next year.”

Senate Bill 15-219 required each police department and district attorney office in Colorado to develop plans for involving other police agencies, sheriff’s departments, or the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in officer-involved shooting reviews.

One of the sponsors, Sen. John Cooke, said that the system is “working well,” and does not support an alternative civilian review board to look into officer shootings.

“We already have them and they’re called either a jury or a grand jury,” he said.

Officers from the 67th graduating class of Colorado Springs Police Department sit and listen during the commencement ceremony that took place at Village Seven Presbyterian Church in January 2018 in Colorado Springs.
(Photo by Dougal Brownlie, The Gazette)
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