Following an announcement from Attorney General Phil Weiser that the Aurora Police Department has engaged in a pattern of racially-biased policing and other illegal practices, Rep. Leslie Herod touted legislation passed last year that enabled the probe that uncovered those findings.

Weiser: Aurora police have pattern of racial bias, misconduct

Weiser launched an investigation into the Aurora police and fire departments under the authority granted by Senate Bill 20-217. The police accountability bill, led by Herod, allows the AG’s office to step in if a law enforcement agency is suspected of engaging in a pattern of infringing on individual rights.

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“Today, the attorney general affirmed that Senate Bill 217 is doing exactly what it’s supposed to be doing,” the Denver Democrat said during a Wednesday news conference. “We have affirmed what the citizens of Aurora and so many folks already knew: that the Aurora Police Department has operated in a way that is racist, and that is particularly racist against black people, and presents harm to our communities.”

She also touted a pair of bills she sponsored this year — House Bill 1250, a follow-up measure to address issues raised in SB217, and House Bill 1251, which prevents law enforcement from directing or “unduly influencing” EMTs to administer ketamine, the chemical restraint administered to McClain ahead of his death in the custody of the Aurora Police Department in 2019.

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But while she said those three pieces of legislation are working, Herod added there’s nothing to celebrate.

“What it means is that there has been harm that has been done to real people in our communities, some that will never be able to speak up about what happened to them,” she said. “But hopefully this will prove to some people and vindicate to others that what they believe happened to them was real or that what they believe that they are facing when it comes to racial discrimination in their community is real.”

Herod also praised Weiser’s work on the probe and noted she would like to see his office launch more patterns and practices investigations. Those additional probes, she said, would be dependent on the resources the legislature grants to Weiser’s office.

That falls within Herod’s purview as a member of the General Assembly’s budget-writing committee. Quizzed on a possible budgetary boost for Weiser’s office next year, Herod said she would wait to see the AG’s budget request. But if that request did come, Herod added, she would support it.

“I hope my colleagues will, too, because it’s important for Coloradans,” Herod said. “We are talking about the life and safety of Coloradans in our cities and counties throughout Colorado.

“We cannot push this aside anymore and we need to say that if there are departments that need to be investigated or that have done harm in their communities, that they will be held under a microscope and be held to account.”

Other community leaders and criminal justice reform advocates weighed in after the release of Weiser’s fundings.

“Today’s findings laid bare what many in our community know too well: that people of color are often treated differently by law enforcement and subject to abuse,” said U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, whose district includes Aurora.

Weiser’s announcement drew the attention of national advocates.

“When AGs have the tools to challenge police brutality and racism, some do step up,” wrote Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, on Twitter. “This report by the Colorado AG is important and welcome. But then there’s the remedy.”

Among other findings, the city’s emergency medical services department also has a pattern of administering ketamine in violation of the law. An injection of the sedative drug is a factor in McClain’s death, and is the subject of a civil lawsuit from another man.

Weiser encouraged the city to enter into a consent decree with the state to provide oversight of any changes Aurora decides to implement.